SKETCHES 



OF 



THE LIFE AND TRAVELS 



OF 



REV. THOMAS WARE, 



WHO HAS BEEN 



AN ITINERANT METHODIST PREACHER FOR MORE THAN 
FIFTY YEARS. 



WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 



REVISED BY THE EDITORS. 



NEW-YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY T. MASON AND G. LANE, 
FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AT THE CONFERENCE OFFICE, 
200 MULBERRY -STREET. 

/. Collord, Printer. 

1839. 



"Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, 
by T. Mason and G. Lane, in the Clerk's Office of the Dis- 
trict Court of the Southern District of New-York." 



3^4 fk 



ADVERTISEMENT 

TO 

MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



The Rev. Thomas Ware is one of the old- 
est Methodist travelling preachers in the United 
States. He commenced his labours in early 
life, and is now more than eighty years of 
age. His connection with the work during 
the first stages of its progress, in this coun- 
try, furnished him with an opportunity to col- 
lect many facts and anecdotes, calculated to 
illustrate the principles and spirit of Method- 
ism in its primitive form. Nothing so happily 
illustrates the spirit and intrinsic character of 
a system of operations, in religion or other 
social interests, as a detailed account of the 
feelings, dispositions, and conduct of its de- 
voted friends and advocates. If we would 
have a correct understanding of primitive 
Christianity, we should make ourselves fami- 
liar with the influences which everywhere, 
and under all circumstances, affected the first 
and most eminent Christians. So, also, if we 



4 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

would have a correct knowledge of true primi- 
tive Methodism, the surest way to attain it is to 
become familiarly acquainted with the lives and 
conduct of its first and most eminent votaries. 
That influence under which an individual is 
led to persevere in a life of self denial and 
much labour for half a century or more, with- 
out turning aside at any time, must be pre- 
sumed to constitute, in a very eminent degree, 
the principal element of his faith and practice. 
Hence are the biographies of the early Me- 
thodist preachers profitable to those who 
would imbibe their spirit and imitate their vir- 
tues — those who would be primitive Method- 
ists — as well as interesting to all. 

Although we could wish our much respected 
father in the gospel, the Rev. Thomas Ware, 
had preserved a great deal more of what 
passed under his observation during the early 
part of his ministry, we cannot but believe 
that many will be thankful for what he has 
furnished in the following pages. They con- 
tain many things calculated to impart instruc- 
tion as well as edification ; and through them 
this venerable man of God will speak to thou- 
sands after he is dead. 

We deem it proper to say, in conclusion, 
that as it appeared desirable in publishing the 
work to preserve the auto-biographical form 



MEMOIR OF RE.V. THOMAS WARE. 



5 



in which it was furnished, although very con- 
siderable corrections were necessary to pre- 
pare it for the press, we have been at the 
pains of having the whole read to the author 
since it was corrected, so that it is published 
from the manuscript approved by him, with- 
out alteration. This was deemed necessary, 
as it contains historical facts and allusions 
which may in some future day be consulted 
for purposes of interest to the Church, when 
all will desire to be satisfied that the record is 
in his own words. We trust this little volume 
will be perused with much satisfaction by 
many, and be rendered a blessing to them. 

Publishers. 



PREFACE 



TO 

MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



The writer of the following sketches has 
neither capacity nor disposition 'to employ 
his pen merely for the purpose of amusing his 
fellow men. But having been called, in the 
order of Providence, to act a part upon the 
stage of life at a period when every thing 
connected with the history of this great nation 
was stamped with interest, he may, without 
ostentation, perform the humble task of record- 
ing some things which passed under his ob- 
servation, and thus preserving from oblivion 
incidents connected with those days, which 
might otherwise be lost. 

In surveying the past, he has reason to 
regret that he has kept a record of so small a 
proportion of what might have been useful and 
interesting to posterity. But a conviction of 
the importance of making a register of every 
thing worth preserving, at the time, came too 
late. In regard to this, the writer has been 
guilty of a fault too common with the soldiers 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 7 

of the revolution, and the first Methodist 
preachers in this country. 

Still there were many things connected 
with his early experience, which, from their 
peculiar nature, or the circumstances under 
which they occurred, made an impression upon 
his mind never to be erased. This induced 
him to note them down at the time of their 
occurrence. From the scraps containing such 
notices, the following sketches are principally 
made out. 

As it is the object of the following narrative 
to instruct, rather than amuse — to give correct 
information relative to the facts alluded to in 
it, rather than dazzle the imagination of the 
reader with an exhibition of marvellous events, 
the writer claims, as the chief merit of his 
production, strict fidelity to truth. He has 
recorded only what he has seen, and heard, 
and experienced. 

If the work possess no other interest, it is 
believed that the circumstance of the writer's 
connection with the early Methodist preach- 
ers, and acquaintance with the history of the 
Church since its organization, will give it a 
degree of value in the estimation of many. 
The humble individual, who furnishes these 
brief sketches for the perusal of posterity, 
was a companion in labour and suffering with 



8 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

the Methodist preachers of 1784. He was 
present at the Christmas Conference in that 
year, when the Methodist Episcopal Church 
in the United States was organized. He has 
lived, however, to witness great changes. His 
" old companions dear" are all gone. He lives 
as in a new world; yet not new, because, 
though other men inhabit it, they are engaged 
in the same cause. Methodism, in its radical 
principles and prominent features, is the same 
as when the writer first entered the field. 
That it may continue so to the end of time, 
and equal the highest expectations of its early 
friends and advocates, as an instrument of 
spreading evangelical holiness through these 
lands, is the sincere prayer of 

T. W. 

Salem, N. J., March 28, 1839. 



REV. 



MEMOIR 

OF THE 

THOMAS WARE. 



CHAPTER I. 

Mr. Ware's account of his ancestors — His birth — Early reli- 
gious training — Doctrinal views of his parents — Death of his 
father — Distress and gloom of his mother — Partakes of her 
spirit of despondency— Troubled with the subject of doctrines — 
Methodists begin to be talked of in that country — The minister 
of the parish induced, in consequence, to dwell largely on the 
doctrine of decrees — Attends school — Contracts a friendship for 
an eccentric schoolmate, and endeavours to shake off his seri- 
ousness — His friend endeavors to reason him out of his Cal- 
vinistic views, but to no purpose — Becomes less serious, and 
more fond of play — Anecdote of a preacher who revived the 
agitation about Methodists, by representing them as driven from 
England by their antagonists, and therefore flocking to Ameri- 
ca — Arminianism, not understood by those who were led to hold 
it a dreadful heresy — Doctrinal disputes among the people — 
Students who played at. cards, and excused themselves when 
rebuked, by taking shelter under the doctrine of decrees — 
School broken up in consequence of the schoolhouse being 
burned — Mr. Ware returns to his mother, and aids her on her 
little farm — Greatly harassed again on the subject of doctrines. 

My paternal grandfather was an English- 
man by birth, and a captain in the British 
service under Queen Anne. I remember 
him well, as he lived until I was sixteen 
years old. His personal appearance was 



10 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

fine, and his mind cheerful. The caresses, 
anecdotes, and lessons of instruction, re- 
ceived from him, are among my earliest 
recollections. He had high notions of liberty, 
and was the first man I ever heard eulo- 
gize the Indian character. Most people 
seemed to think the Indians ought to be 
exterminated. 

When this venerable old man came to 
spend a few days with us, we were always 
delighted, and vied with each other in our 
efforts to please him. His company was 
interesting on account of the cheerfulness 
of his spirits, and the stories with which he 
was always ready to entertain us. He was 
in the habit, too, of advising my father with 
respect to the education of his children. — 
On this subject he used to say, the mind 
must be made strong as well as the body. 
Though minds differed — some being natu 
rally stronger and others weaker — yet much 
depended upon management in their educa- 
tion. And in view of this, a beginning could 
not too soon be made to guard children 
against the fears which vulgar stories about 
ghosts, &c, were calculated to produce, and 
to store their minds with correct ideas. My 
grandfather lived to the great age of more 
than fivescore years. To his uniformly cheer- 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



I I 



ful temperament, as a means under God, I 
have always attributed his long- life. 

My maternal grandfather, whose name was 
Reed, I never saw. He was a native of Scot- 
land. On his passage from that country, he 
was wrecked off the capes of Delaware, and 
lost all but his life. He reached the shore by 
clinging to some fragments of the broken ship, 
and was found nearly exhausted on the beach 
by a farmer, named Garrettson, who took him 
to his house. With this person, who rescued 
him from his perilous condition, he was con- 
tented to remain. He afterward married a 
daughter of his benefactor. He died at mid- 
dle age, leaving a large landed estate, and a 
numerous offspring. 

My grandmother Reed I knew well. She 
possessed fine powers of mind, and a happy 
faculty of communicating her thoughts. Al- 
though not very conversant with books, she 
knew much of the history of the world, and 
her conversation was always rendered inte- 
resting by her numerous anecdotes about 
former days, when the country was infested 
with beasts of prey and savage men. The 
young people were delighted with her society, 
and profited too, as she was accustomed, in 
entertaining them with her conversation, to 
draw many of her anecdotes from the Scrip- 



12 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

tures, which she would tell in a soft and pious 
strain, that made an impression on my mind 
lasting as life. She was one of the few whose 
condition may be said to be enviable in old 
age. With intelligence and cheerfulness 
beaming in her countenance, and the law of 
kindness dwelling on her tongue, her last 
days were among her most happy days. Who 
that have had the pleasure of being conversant 
with such a person in the decline of life, ha ve 
not felt a wish mingling with secret aspirations 
of the heart to God that they might live to be 
old, and their last days be equally tranquil and 
happy? 

My father and mother were pious persons, 
and lived, while they were permitted to live 
together, in the fear of the Lord. But my 
father died in the prime of life — I think at 
about thirty-eight years of age. My grand- 
father Ware used to say that he was the 
kindest of all his sons. He was the only one 
of them who professed to know that God for 
Christ's sake had forgiven his sins. His mind 
was improved by considerable reading. Mil- 
ton was his favourite poet; and persons of 
good taste were always delighted to hear 
Paradise Lost read by him. He loved his 
family much ; and in the estimation of those 
who knew him best, he was considered one of 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



13 



the most excellent men. These amiable pa- 
rents taught me the fear of the Lord, by both 
precept and example. The whole deportment 
of my father tended to fix in me a habit of 
serious reflection on the subject of religion; 
and his triumphant death made an impression 
on my mind that time could not obliterate. 
He left my mother a widow with eight chil- 
dren, the eldest only seventeen years. 

Respecting the date of my birth there is no 
authentic record, a part of the family register 
having been by accident so effaced as to ren- 
der it illegible. For the only knowledge I 
have of it, therefore, I am indebted to the 
memory of my excellent mother, from whom I 
learned that it was the 19th of December, 1758. 

Though my father and mother were both 
pious, they did not agree in their views of 
doctrine. My mother was a firm believer in 
the Presbyterian faith ; but my father was not, 
and refused to join the church unless he could 
be permitted to think for himself on the subject 
of divine decrees. He believed, as my mother 
often told me, in the universality of the atone- 
ment ; but, in compliance with her wishes, 
suffered me to learn the Larger and Shorter 
Catechisms. Alas! how many children are 
injured, and go halting all their days, for want 
of skilful nursing. 



14 



MEMOIR OF RET. THOMAS WARE. 



It had been usual for my mother, in my 
father's absence, to pray with her children 
morning and evening. But after his death 
she was tempted to abandon it. The scene 
was deeply afflicting. She collected her chil- 
dren, as usual, around her. While thus 
seated, eight in number, and the eldest only 
in her seventeenth year, she attempted to read, 
but could not. She sat and wept. My eldest 
sister at last said, " My dear mother, why do 
you weep?" "Alas!" replied she, "death 
has made you all orphans, and your mother a 
disconsolate widow. I am not worthy to fill 
the place of your excellent father. Had I 
been so, and you been dutiful children, we 
should not have been left in this forlorn con- 
dition. Go, my children, and pray for your- 
selves. These little ones, (meaning the 
younger four of the number,) I will take with 
me into my closet." On hearing these remarks 
from my bereaved and much afflicted mother, 
I arose quickly, went out into the field, and 
wept bitterly. I said to myself, It is doubtless 
as my mother has said ; at least we have been 
naughty children. 

No wonder that a providence so mysterious 
as the removal of my father in the prime of 
life, should deeply affect my poor afflicted 
mother. The gloom which hung over her 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 1 5 

mind, occasioned by his death and her being 1 
left with eight young children, who were des- 
tined no more to see the smiling face or hear 
the charming voice of so kind and affectionate 
a father, was heightened by the doubts she 
often indulged about her own election, or gra- 
cious state, as she would express it. She was 
harassed with fears, that what she had fondly 
taken for saving grace, was nothing more 
than common grace. 

About this time, a neighbour who had long 
been a communicant in the church had fallen 
into doubts respecting his election, and in his 
despondency had taken his own life. This 
man, she now concluded, had never been 
operated upon by any thing more than com- 
mon grace. And it occasioned her much 
painful exercise and sore conflict of mind. 

Listening to those who came to console my 
mother under the pressure of her grief and the 
doubts which were preying upon her feelings, 
a spirit of melancholy seized me, and I became 
subject to desponding fears. In this state I 
wandered in lowly places ; and having heard 
that departed spirits did sometimes return as 
messengers of good to those they loved on 
earth, I often invoked my father's appearance, 
hoping that for the love he bore to us while 
he was with us, he would return and tell me 



16 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

if my mother's name and my own were writ- 
ten in the book of life. 

From this, some idea may be formed of the 
gloom cast over the morning of my days in 
consequence of my early instruction in the 
principles of the Calvinistic faith. There are 
some minds which cannot digest the doctrine 
of decrees as set forth in the system of 
Calvinism. And such was mine. 

It was not long before the younger two of 
our family were taken away by death. As 
they died in infancy, there were no just 
grounds to doubt of their being happy. But 
to a mind exercised as mine then was, there 
was no satisfactory assurance of it ; for, ac- 
cording to our creed, the condition of infancy 
could not be considered as a security against 
being finally lost. There were three, one bro- 
ther and two sisters, older than myself ; and 
none of these appeared to give themselves any 
uneasiness about our little Lydia and Enoch, 
whom we had followed to the grave, not doubt- 
ing that they were with their father in hea- 
ven. Why it was that I alone should infer, 
from our common creed, that they were more 
likely to be in hell than in heaven, I am at a 
loss to conceive, unless Providence designed 
that I should be the means of bringing our 
family to embrace the doctrinal views of my 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 17 

father, rather than those of my mother, who 
herself died in principle a Methodist. In the 
distinguishing features of my father's faith I was 
never instructed until I became a Methodist, 
and my mother's prejudices had somewhat 
subsided. She then told me that my father 
was a Methodist in his views, and, she doubt- 
ed not, would have joined them, if he had lived 
to hear them. 

When the Methodists began to be talked of 
in our section of the country, our ministei, 
fearing lest their principles should be intro - 
duced and infect the minds of his people, was 
led to dwell largely on the doctrine of divine 
decrees, which, being opposed by some, occa- 
sioned much controversy among all classes. 

At this time I was attending school. Among 
my school-mates was one, named Constan- 
tine, some years older than myself, for whom, 
notwithstanding some peculiarities of charac- 
ter which rendered him offensive to others, I 
contracted a strong attachment. He was 
ordinary in his person, and possessed great 
muscular strength. His genius was of the 
highest order, — especially in the study of the 
mathematics. By competent judges he was 
considered to possess a maturity of thought 
far above his years. His fellow-students 
hated him ; but it was probably because they 



18 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



dreaded his wit and satire. They were cau- 
tious not to go too far, lest bruin, as they 
called him, would give them a deadly hug. 
By some, too, he was deemed as a prodigy of 
wickedness, because he did not believe in 
the decrees of God, as set forth in our Cate- 
chism and Confession of Faith. He had, what 
some thought, the audacity to say, that the 
time spent in learning them was worse than 
lost. This extraordinary young man, who 
was, in fact, a good-natured and fast friend, 
laboured hard to persuade me out of my Cal- 
vinistic views. But he could not succeed. 
Becoming weary, however, with my continued 
struggles of mind, and concluding that noth ing 
was to be gained by self-consuming care, I 
made an effort to dismiss serious thoughts 
from my mind, and soon became as passion- 
ately fond of play as any in the school. 

The noise about the Methodists had died 
away. For a considerable time little was said 
of them, except now and then a silly tale or 
groundless report was put in circulation re- 
specting them. One of these was, that they 
preached that there were children in hell not 
a span long. This was stated in a circle of 
persons, all of whom, except one, were pre- 
destinarians. An individual remarked that it 
might be true; "but there are," said he, "two 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. J 9 

kinds of Methodists ; the followers of Wesley, 
and those of Whitefield. The latter are pre- 
destinarians, and some of them do probably 
preach such doctrines ; but it ill becomes us, 
who are predestinarians, to circulate this tale." 

Soon after, a preacher of this class — one 
of the most rigid predestinarians of that age — 
came into the place, and revived the clamour 
against the Methodists. The story which was 
put in circulation w T as, that the two Mr. Hills, 
Richard and Rowland, had written them down 
in England, and that they were flocking to Ame- 
rica ; and a clergyman of an adjoining parish, 
apprehending, as it seemed, that there was no 
time to be lost, commenced a course of ser- 
mons on the decrees of God, in which he 
extended their application to the falling of 
every leaf in autumn. He told the people 
that England was overrun with a set of wild 
fanatical heretics, who had revived the errors 
of James Arminius, and would, it was feared, 
inundate America with their damnable Armi- 
nian, Pelagian, and popish heresies. Many, 
however, were not very well pleased with the 
old gentleman's strong doctrine and harsh 
invectives. 

As to Arminianism, they knew not what it 
meant, but thought it must be something very 
bad. Some, however, took the liberty to draw 



20 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

their own conclusions from what the parson 
preached, and argued that if it were true, no 
one could consistently be blamed for any thing 
he thought, said, or did. During this agita- 
tion, a son of Col. S., one of the minister's 
principal parishioners, returned from college, 
with two of his fellow-students, to spend a 
short time at home. He and his companions 
were studying for the law. They attended 
church for two successive Sabbaths, and 
listened to the discourses of the preacher on 
divine decrees. On the following Sabbath, 
however, instead of attending service, while 
the parson was pursuing his subject in the 
church, they were playing at cards in a plea- 
sant shade near it, without any apparent con- 
cern about being concealed from public view. 
Of this daring impiety the pastor was readily 
informed ; and on the following day, in com- 
pany with two of his elders, he waited on Col. 
S., whose son had evidently taken the lead in 
this open contempt of the day, the ordinances, 
and the minister of God. The clergyman 
opened the subject to the father ; and the son 
was called in to answer for himself. The 
youth frankly confessed what he had done ; 
and on being sharply rebuked for an offence so 
enormous and shocking to the moral sense of all 
good people, he boldly took refuge under the 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 21 

doctrine taught him from the pulpit. " If your 
reverence please," said he, " the Lord made 
me to do this bad deed ; and I hope you will 
excuse, or at least pity me — seeing it was 
from all eternity decreed ;" and then drew 
from his pocket, and handed to the preacher, 
an abstract which he had taken of one of his 
sermons, in which it was affirmed that the 
decrees of God extended to all the actions of 
men. With this repartee the colonel saw that 
the parson was evidently embarrassed; nor 
could he relieve him other than by an exer- 
cise of his parental authority in reproving his 
son for being guilty of so wicked an act as 
playing at cards on the Sabbath, and obtain- 
ing from him a promise that he would not be 
guilty of the like again. But the son gave 
point to the whole, by begging of his father, 
in tjie most respectful manner, that he would 
forbear urging his demand with too much de- 
cision, lest he should be guilty of greater im- 
piety, not knowing how the decrees of God 
might run. 

This circumstance was a subject of much 
conversation in our neighbourhood. By some 
the young student was highly commended ; 
and by others severely censured. Had those 
who applauded the boldness and intre- 
pidity of the youth, laid the blame at the mi- 



5|2 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



nister's door, as they ought to have done, and, 
in renouncing the doctrine he had taught, 
sought for the truth, it might have been a be- 
neficial occurrence to them ; but being led to 
suppose that what the minister taught, false 
and absurd as it appeared to them, was the 
doctrine of the Bible, because it was preached 
from the pulpit, some were led to think and 
speak lightly of that holy book.* 

The school-house in which I attended 
school when I contracted an acquaintance 
with the eccentric Coustantine, whom I have 
mentioned, having been burned down, and the 
school thereby broken up, I w r as deprived of 
the means of regular instruction — there being 
no other one within my reach. My time w r as 
now employed in aiding my mother to culti- 
vate her small farm ; and, by the assistance 
she gave me, I improved some in reading. A 
code of laws drawn up by our excellent 
teacher, for the government of his pupils, and 
copied by my friend Constantine, I had care- 
fully preserved ; and also a fragment of my 
father's journal, when a school-boy. These 

* After a lapse of many years from this occurrence, I travel- 
led the district embracing the place where it transpired, and 
inquired of an intelligent gentleman who belonged to the same 
church at the time, whether he recollected it. He replied that 
he did very well, and that the preacher immediately changed his 
course, and undid what he had done before. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 23 

were calculated to carry my mind back, and 
cause me to think of events that were past 
Some of my first attempts at journalizing had 
also been preserved. As portrayed in these, 
I have often looked at myself with much inte- 
rest, and viewed myself as ayoungimmortal, left 
as it were alone, in search of intellectual food, 
or doomed to go without. The lower ani- 
mals are instinctively directed to what is good 
for them, and select the nutritious from among 
the poisonous. Man has no such instinctive 
faculty to obtain what is needful for the mind. 
On the contrary, he too often shows the 
keenest relish for the deadly poison. I had 
indeed a pious mother ; but her education was 
too defective in this respect, essentially to 
benefit me. Her thirst for Christian know- 
ledge led her to read much ; and she could 
read well. Her precepts and example were 
also highly instructive and beneficial ; yet her 
occasionally pleading for the necessity of conti- 
nuing in sin until death, and the like, by no 
means contributed to satisfy my inquiring 
mind. As she was deeply afflicted, however, 
and needed all the aid I could give her toward 
supporting the family, a sense of duty induced 
me to remain for a time with her. 



24 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



CHAPTER II. 

Mr. Ware leaves nis mother, and goes to live with an uncle — 
His uncle an irreligious and trifling man — Was brought to hear 
skeptical conversation among those who frequented his uncle's 
house — Was caressed by them, and much injured — The war 
breaks out — His feelings in favour of the revolution — He becomes 
ardent in the cause of freedom by reading — His uncle takes op- 
posite sides — He leaves his uncle, and volunteers in the service 
— Reflects upon his course — Is carelessly exposed with the rest 
of the regiment at Perth Amboy, and threatened with punish- 
ment for his remarks on the occasion — Volunteers to reinforce 
General Washington on Long Island ; but is prevented by the 
enemy, and falls sick at Powle's Hook. 

In my sixteenth year, my mother thinking 
she could spare me, I left my native town, 
and went to live with an uncle in Salem, 
N. J., about twenty miles distant. This uncle 
was an ingenious mechanic ; and deemed, in 
the circle in which he moved, a ready wit. — 
But he was lax in his moral and religious prin- 
ciples. He was in the habit of indulging in 
sarcasms on all occasions calculated to call 
them forth, especially in reference to the insti- 
tutions and habits of the people of New-Eng- 
land. He had made himself familiar with 
their history, and particularly detested their 
treatment of the Quakers ; probably the more, 
because his mother was of that order; and 
their blue laws, as they were called, which he 
appeared to understand well, were particularly 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 25 

offensive to his feelings, and the subject of his 
severest remarks. 

My creed, also, which had so much bewil- 
dered my mind, but which I now began t t 
trouble myself but little about, was often made 
the subject of my uncle's biting ridicule. Ha- 
bitually listening to the skeptical conversations 
of those who frequented his house, and who 
appeared to be the gayest and happiest peo- 
ple in the world, I soon imbibed their spirit 
and sentiments, and joined with them in their 
merriment. Having learned some of their 
songs, and being favoured with a good voice, 
I was soon caressed by them, as being able to 
sing a good song, and say some smart things. 

While I was residing with my uncle, the 
quarrel between us and the mother country 
became more threatening, and the alarm of 
war waxed louder and louder. I was young 
and ardent; and all my feelings were on the 
side of America. I was delighted, therefore, 
to hear the bold and unfaltering voice of the 
undaunted Henry raised in defiance of the 
sovereign who was endeavouring to crush us, 
and of his minions among us. Still more de- 
lighted was I when I learned that, seeing we 
must resort to arms in defence of our rights, 
the election for a commander-in-chief fell upon 
Washington, the youthful hero whose skill in 



26 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

saving the vanquished army of the ill-fated 
Braddock was a pledge for his success when 
his country should need his services. Brad- 
dock's defeat was well understood, and much 
talked of ; and in connection with it, the emi 
nent skill displayed by young Washington in 
rescuing the army from being entirely cut off 
was familiar to all. I knew a man who had 
been a soldier under Braddock, and had heard 
him speak of Washington as every way supe- 
rior, in person, demeanour, courage, and skill 
in war. In such a cause, and under such a 
leader, my ardent feelings inclined me to 
desire to serve my country. 

The spirit of liberty was abroad. A sense 
of the rights of man with which the American 
people were imbued, had roused the people 
from their lethargy, and produced some of the 
greatest statesmen and heroes the world ever 
saw. The invincible spirit they manifested 
had spread itself among all classes, and agi- 
tated the whole civilized world. The general 
feeling which prevailed had some redeeming 
influence on me, as it directed my mind to a 
particular object. I had an ardent desire to 
peruse the news of the day, and this led me 
to improve in my reading. If I heard any 
thing interesting read in the periodicals of the 
day, I borrowed the paper and read it over 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 27 

myself, while it was yet fresh in my memory, 
which aided me very much. The cause of 
freedom was advocated, too, by the free circu- 
lation of pamphlets, one of which was very 
popular, and had much influence on the minds 
of the people generally. There were doubt- 
less some who did not approve of it ; but they 
were silent. In all conversations among the 
people you would hear the measures of the 
British government toward this country con- 
demned as arbitrary beyond endurance, and 
that we were justified in resisting them, and 
throwing off the yoke. The pamphlet which 
so ably advocated these views, as all agreed, 
I procured, and got persons to read it for me 
who could read well, and then read it myself, 
by which I continued to improve in the art of 
reading, and became more deeply imbued with 
the spirit of the revolution. I w r as at this time 
in the seventeenth year of my age. 

An elderly man, having heard me say that 
I claimed to understand the principles of the 
revolution, and meant to be governed by them, 
inquired what they were. I replied, " Never 
to invade the rights of others, nor suffer others 
to invade mine, at the risk of life. But un- 
derstand me, sir, I do not mean as a duellist, 
for no man in his individual capacity has the 
right of life and death f and I proceeded to 



28 MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 

explain an invasion of rights, as consisting in 
attempts to compel us to believe and act con- 
trary to the dictates of our rational convictions. 

When the struggle commenced, my uncle 
was on the side of America. But on the 
declaration of independence, he changed sides. 
Influenced by the views and feelings I have 
expressed, I left him, and volunteered as a 
soldier in the service. In seventy-six, I was 
one of the nine thousand quartered at Perth 
Amboy. 

After I had enlisted, one said to me, " You 
are an adventurous youth — it is a desperate 
cut — independence or the halter." All seemed 
at first to agree in dispensing with such arti- 
cles as were taxed, in a way, as they thought, 
to oppress the colonies. But they were not 
equally united in having recourse to arms in 
defence of their alleged rights. The chief 
difficulty seemed to be, a fear that we should 
not be able to contend with a power which 
we had been accustomed to consider invinci- 
ble ; and then, to those actively engaged in 
the conflict, it would probably be death instead 
of independence. This, I doubt not, led many 
to take neutral ground. But on such ground 
circumstances would not long permit them to 
remain. All who professed to occupy it were 
represented as disaffected, and constantly 



MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 29 

pressed on the subject until many became 
really so, and went over to the enemy. Others 
pleaded conscientious scruples against bear- 
ing arms, and were excused on that account, 
though their property was laid under requisi- 
tion to support the war. Having now 7 abjured 
my king, and taken up arms against him, I 
had time to think and reason with myself on 
the part I had taken in this great national 
conflict ; and some of my reflections I can 
never forget while memory lasts. The cause 
I held to be just. On this point I had no mis- 
givings. But whether w r e should be able to 
sustain our ground, appeared to me a much 
more doubtful question. There must be, I 
was sure, much hard fighting, and many 
valuable lives sacrificed, to gain the boon of 
our independence, if we should succeed at 
last. And what will they gain, thought I, 
who fall in the struggle ? The thanks of their 
country 1 No ; they will be forgotten. But 
then the principles for which we were con- 
tending, it appeared to me, were worth risking 
life for. Our example would be followed by 
others, and tyranny and oppression w 7 ould be 
overthrown throughout the world. Still the 
question recurred, " Can you meet the mar- 
tialled hosts of the British nation — you, who 
know little or nothing of the arts of war, and 



30 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

whose officers know not much more than 
yourselves — with any hope of success V This 
was an appalling view of the subject. Yet, 
with the views I entertained of the justness of 
our cause in the sight of Heaven, I could not 
doubt, and resolved for one on liberty or 
death. "But there is a hereafter," was sug- 
gested to my mind. True, thought I, but I 
will do the best I can, and trust in God. And 
so it was, that as a soldier in the army I was 
more devout than when at home ; and I 
prayed until a confidence sprang up within 
me, that I should return to my home and 
friends in safety, or not be cut off without 
time to make my peace with God. 

After we had lain a short time at Perth 
Amboy, to make a show of our strength, as 
was supposed, our general reviewed us in full 
view of the enemy. As was expected by some, 
they opened their artillery upon us. Had their 
fire been directed with skill, many must 
have been slain. But they shot over us. 
Although none were injured, yet many were 
dreadfully frightened, and indignant at the 
officers for unnecessarily exposing their lives 
to such imminent hazard. This was indeed a 
useless exposure of life. To call out nine 
thousand men in fall view of the enemy, and 
before their cannon, with only a narrow river 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 31 

or sound, not exceeding, I think, two hundred 
yards, between them and us, was an indiscre- 
tion sufficient to alarm the soldiers. Still 
there was occasion enough to exercise us. 
Having been a lieutenant in a juvenile com- 
pany, and taken much pride in studying the 
tactics of the field, I thought our officers blame- 
worthy in neglecting to drill their men, unpre- 
pared as they appeared to be for the discharge 
of their duty. But instead of this, they permitted 
them to spend their time in running foot-races, 
wrestling, jumping, &c. By an inadvertent 
remark on this subject, I came near getting 
into a serious difficulty. I said our officers 
undoubtedly depended more upon our heels 
than our arms, alluding to our being indulged 
in running and jumping, rather than trained 
to duty. For this I was reprimanded, and 
threatened with an arrest. 

After being quartered one month at Perth 
Amboy, I volunteered to reinforce Washing- 
ton, on Long Island. We marched with all 
possible haste to Powles' Hook; but before we 
arrived, the British had got command of the 
Hudson River, and we were prevented from 
crossing over to Long Island. 

After this forced march, the day being very 
sultry, and having no tent or quarters for the 
night, except a damp filthy hovel, I was seized 



32 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

with what was called the camp fever. The 
physician pronounced it a hectic. Whatever 
it was, it cost me several years of the prime 
of my life. 



CHAPTER HI. 

Gloomy aspect of affairs throughout the country — Soldiers 
refuse to continue in the service after their terms expire— 
Many leave — Mr. Ware leaves with the rest, but is unable to 
proceed far — Stops with a relative — Finds him a violent enemy 
to the revolution — Learns that Washington is on the retreat — 
Sets forward for West Jersey — Witnesses the distress of the 
people in flight before the enemy — Is insulted and abused at a 
public house — Suffers much in a snow-storm — Finds a friend, 
with whom he puts up — Is delirious by reason of his exposure 
and late sickness — Leaves his hospitable friends, with whom he 
is pressed to stay, and hastens home. 

During the autumn of 1776, things wore a 
very gloomy aspect. The tempest of war had 
swept over the plains and heights of New- 
York, and then burst with impetuosity on 
New-Jersey, my native state. The conti- 
nental troops could not bear up against the 
veteran hosts of the British army, by whom 
they were outnumbered more than two to 
one. The American army had been reduced 
much by various conflicts with the enemy : 
but what added to the causes of discourage- 
ment was, that the soldiers had become disaf- 
fected in consequence of their extreme suffer- 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 33 

ings, especially for want of clothing : and an 
impression began to obtain among them that 
congress cared very little about their suffer- 
ings, and that there were too many in the 
national councils who cared as little about the 
independence of the country ; and as the term 
for which many had enlisted expired at that 
time, no persuasion could induce them to enrol 
their names again, or to postpone their return 
to their homes. 

While such was the condition of the army, 
the enemy was advancing in triumph, and the 
people flying in consternation before them. 
There are many now living who have heard 
their parents tell of the scenes which then 
transpired — of whole families in flight — wo- 
men and children homeless, in winter, hasten- 
ing to make their escape, not knowing whi- 
ther they went — men who had accumulated a 
competency forsaking their farms and effects, 
giving them all up to be destroyed, rather than 
remain to improve or protect them, with the 
enemy at their heels — there are many, I say, 
who have undoubtedly heard these scenes 
described ; but I witnessed them in all their 
horrors. 

Of all wars a civil war is the worst ; and 
the revolutionary war had much of this cha- 
racter. The animosity between the friends 
2* 



34 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



of the revolution and the British was great; 
but that between the friends and the enemies 
of the revolution — the whigs and tories — was 
greater. Some of the latter were violent and 
cruel beyond comparison. But for them our 
independence would have been accomplished 
with ease : and in consequence of what I had 
witnessed in the conduct of individuals who 
manifested so much hostility against those that 
were labouring to achieve our independence, 
I imbibed a settled aversion to them ; but 
on my retiring from the camp, I became con- 
vinced that I had erred in supposing them all 
alike in this matter. 

On leaving the army to return home, I 
found myself unable to keep up with my com- 
panions in arms, who had received their dis- 
charge, and were also returning to their 
homes ; and I accordingly turned aside to 
spend a few days with a relative who lived a 
few miles from the main road. The man I 
had never seen, though I had seen his wife and 
daughter; nor did I know any thing of his 
views and feelings respecting the war. When 
I arrived, I was received with expressions of 
kindness by my relations. The sympathies 
of the mother and daughter were strongly 
moved by my affliction. During the absence 
of fever there was an unnatural paleness on 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 35 

my countenance, which made me appear more 
..like a dead than a living man ; and then, when 
the fever came on, being much bloated, a 
crimson hue flushed my cheek, which gave 
me the appearance of being in health. But 
the sudden transitions of these two extremes 
caused those who observed them to suppose 
me under the influence of a hectic fever. 

The second day that I was with this fami- 
ly I overheard my cousin say to his wife, 
"This relative bears a remarkable resem- 
blance to my aunt, his mother, and appears 
to be a kind, honest-hearted fellow ; and, 
though you have heard me say, rather than a 
rebel should escape I would turn hangman 
myself, he looks so much like my mother, and 
is so young, I should not like to put a knot 
about his neck ; but, as for the ringleaders 
of this nefarious rebellion, them I could hang 
with a free good-will." " O, Jacob," said his 
wife, "I fear you will yet bring ruin upon 
yourself and family." Through the kindness 
and importunity of this amiable woman and 
her daughter, my cousin was so far softened 
toward me as to manifest some tenderness ; and 
as I remained with them ten days, my health 
and spirits were much improved. 

The following circumstances led to my 
sudden departure from this place: — "While 



36 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

walking in the woods one day, I saw a man 
pass with a horse, and heard him say, while 
viewing the animal, " Well, if the news be 
true, the money I gave the rebel isn't worth 
sixpence." I hailed him, and inquired if his 
horse was for sale. He said he was, for hard 
money. Having taken a few guineas with 
me when I left home, lest I should be taken 
prisoner and need them, I finally contracted 
to purchase the horse, saddle, and bridle, for 
all the hard money I had. I took the horse 
to the stable ; but did not ask the man about 
the news of which I heard him speak. On 
coming into the house, my cousin met me 
at the door, with the newspaper in his 
hand, and said, " There, I always expect- 
ed it would come to this. The rebel army is 
destroyed. Washington is on the retreat, and 
cannot escape. So, cousin, you will tarry 
with us and take protection. You are young, 
and may easily obtain a pardon. I will go 
with you to the British officer; and, if you 
have fears, we will take Eliza (his daughter) 
as your advocate." My feelings were not 
prepared for such a proposition ; and, for a 
moment, I struggled between consternation 
and contempt. But soon my course was de- 
cided. The feelings of indignation, being 
roused in my bosom, flashed in my face. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 37 

When lie saw this, he threw down the paper 
and went into another room. Eliza, I saw, was 
in tears; and her mother was absent with a 
sick neighbour. I walked several times across 
the room, and then went to Eliza, and giving 
her my hand, bade her adieu, adding that we 
should never meet again. I told her that I 
should go and see Captain Dubois ; and, if 
the news were true, I should continue my 
course to West Jersey ; but, if not, I might re- 
turn, as I very much wanted to see her mother 
before I left. She was too much agitated to 
speak ; but, after a while, became more calm, 
and desired me to stay until her mother should 
return. But I told her I could not delay ; that 
her kindness, and that of her mother, I could 
never forget ; and I hastened away.* 

* The fears which I had overheard Eliza's mother express 
to her father that he would bring ruin upon his family, were, 
in a great measure, realized. When the British were driven 
from New-Jersey, he, in consequence of his violence against 
the American cause, was forced to flee, leaving his farm and 
possessions, which were confiscated. He went with his family 
to Nova Scotia, where, in a state of extreme poverty, he ended 
his days. O how often has my heart been pained for his amia- 
ble wife and daughter ! After the war I saw a preacher from 
Nova Scotia, who knew the family. He said the climate 
proved too severe for Eliza's constitution, and she soon lost her 
sprightliness, and went into a decline. She, however, re- 
nounced the world, and gave her heart to God, and finally died, 
enjoying the consolations of religion. A more lovely and inte- 
resting sufferer, he said, he had seldom seen. 



38 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

I found Captain Dubois making ready to 
move with his family to some place of safety, 
being quite sure that New-Jersey must fall 
into the hands of the enemy ; so I set for- 
ward toward home. Fully to judge of my 
feelings, at this time, one must witness the 
scene I did, of distressed families in flight 
before the invading foe. The horror of the 
scene was heightened by the inclemency of 
the day. A chilling storm of rain, hail, and 
snow, which finally became a settled snow, 
rendered the day most dismal. About noon I 
halted at a public house to see if I could ob- 
tain some refreshment. The landlord inquired 
if I had any hard money ; and, being inform- 
ed that I had not, he gave me to understand 
that I could get no refreshment there. There 
was a number of persons collected at this 
place, who, it appeared, were greatly delight- 
ed with the news of the disasters which had 
befallen the army, and had come together to 
feast upon the miseries of their fellow-beings. 
They would call out to the distressed families 
as they were passing, curse them as fools and 
cowards, and tauntingly say, " If you are the 
friends of Washington, why do you flee from him 
— they say he is dodging among the hills off 
the road — can he not give you protection V 
In the midst of these, cold, and hungry, and 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 39 

sick, I endeavoured, for a short time, to obtain 
trie benefit of the fire to warm myself. One 
of them addressed me, and said, "I perceive 
by your garb* that you are a soldier. You 
have doubtless deserted your colours, and de- 
serve to be hanged." " O," said another, sar- 
castically, "he is fasting and praying for kind 
death to come and save him from a British 
halter ; do not disturb his devotions." A 
young man present interposed and said, " This 
is brutish. The young man does not think as 
we do ; but he is a man, and, as such, he has 
a claim upon our humanity. If he will go 
with me to my father's house, he shall have 
what refreshment he wants, and be treated 
with civility." I, however, chose to proceed 
on my journey ; and, having warmed myself, 
I shook the young man by the hand, and 
thanked him for his kindness, expressing, at 
the same time, a wish that he might never 
need a friend, and went on. 

Night was now approaching, and the falling 
snow, darkening the atmosphere, rendered my 
lonely travel exceedingly dreary. I felt that 
I must have refreshment and a shelter for the 

* When I volunteered, at Perth Amboy, to reinforce Washing- 
ton, on Long-Island, our ensign refusing to go, the colours were 
given me, as a reward for being the first to follow our captain, 
who was the first in the regiment that turned out and called for 
volunteers. 



40 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



night, and saw I could not reach the place I 
had in view; I therefore resolved on calling 
at the first house which made a show of being 
a house of entertainment, and asking for shel- 
ter through the night. I was soon overtaken 
by a well-dressed, good-looking young man, 
who hailed me with, "Well, soldier, which 
way are you travelling in the storm V " To 
West Jersey," I replied. "Are you lately 
from the army?" he inquired. I replied in the 
affirmative. " Have left it in disgust, I sup- 
pose," said he. " I have thought, sir," said I, 
" that the American people love their ease, 
their money, and their present safety, more 
than their liberty. I am, however, no deserter, 
the time for which I enlisted having expired." 
" New- Jersey," said he, " is doubtless lost ; 
and with men of thought it is a plain case 
that independence cannot be sustained." I 
replied that it appeared doubtful ; but had the 
friends of the cause shown that they were 
true to themselves, by furnishing the soldiers 
with such things as they wanted, and sending 
their sons to share in their toil and danger, 
instead of leaving them to hazard their lives 
and suffer for food and clothing, it might be 
otherwise. If they went on in this way, they 
would see who would defend their rights. 
For my part I meant to go home, and put off 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 41 

the badge of a soldier. I then told him how 
I had been treated at the public house, and 
that I had not broken my fast that day. I 
perceived he viewed me with pity ; and I 
asked him how far I must go to find a place 
of entertainment. " There," said he, pointing 
to a house in sight, " lives my father. You 
must go with me. My father is a friend to 
the king ; but, whatever your sentiments may 
be, he will treat you with kindness." So I 
went with him. 

It was time my day's journey closed, for 
when I lighted from my horse I could scarcely 
walk. Being chilled through with my long 
ride in the cold and snow, in my weak state 
of body, when I came into a warm room I 
soon became speechless, and on my counte- 
nance appeared the paleness of death. I was 
not, however, wholly insensible of what 
passed. And here again I witnessed the ten- 
der sympathies of kind-hearted woman. The 
mother and sister of my generous young friend 
became such to me, and exerted themselves 
to relieve me in my distress, as much as they 
could have done if I had been a son and 
brother. Revived by the cordial they pre- 
sented to my lips, I could not help exclaiming, 
"I thought I was among strangers, but I have 
found a mother and a sister too." My clothes 



42 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

were wet through to my body, and they fur- 
nished me with a dry suit. While putting 
them on, I thought I had erred in supposing 
that there was no virtuous sensibility in the 
hearts of those who were denominated tories, 
as the kindness I received from this family 
plainly showed. The father and son were 
royalists, but of the better sort, as I had good 
reason to suppose ; though the mother and 
daughter sympathized with the friends of the 
revolution. 

All the efforts of kindness on the part of 
these friends, however, could not save me 
from a chill. This was followed by a burning 
fever, which threw me into a delirium. In 
this state I imagined myself to be at the house 
I had left in the morning, and the daughter of 
my host to be my cousin Eliza. During the 
ravings which the paroxysm occasioned, as 
she was sitting near me, I reached out my 
hand and said, " See, Eliza, how my hand 
burns. But, Eliza, where are the old people? 
Will your father ever forgive me for having 
been in arms against his king ?" The young 
lady saw I was delirious, and endeavoured to 
pacify me by saying, "My father loves the 
king ; but he thinks well of Washington, and 
hopes when the Americans find that they 
cannot maintain their independence, they will 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 43 

submit to honourable terms, and the king will 
make a great man of Washington." " But, 
dear Eliza," said I, " does your father think 
the king will pardon any of those who have 
been in arms against him?" Upon this the 
old gentleman replied, " O yes, he will pardon 
them all, and we shall all be friends again. 
The king knows he has dealt hard with the 
Americans, and he will yet do them justice." 
"When I heard the old gentleman's voice, I 
knew where I was, and my reason soon 
returned. I then took some refreshment, and 
retired to rest. 

Next morning the daughter told me the 
conversation that had passed the night before ; 
and I informed her what my impressions were, 
and that I mistook her for my cousin, whose 
fathers house I had left that morning. The 
old gentleman, who was present, said, "Young 
man, I was much alarmed on your account 
last night. I felt that I was a father, and 
thought what if this were my son, a youth far 
from home and in distress — I will do by him 
what I would wish another to do by my son 
in a similar case." And he concluded with 
some explanatory remarks on what I had said 
the night before, evincing the intelligence of 
his mind and the goodness of his heart. The 
young doctor who had invited me to his 



44 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



father's house, and was probably the means 
of saving my life, insisted on my staying with 
them for a day or two longer ; and such was 
the kindness of the family, that I cheerfully 
and thankfully consented. But the British 
army was approaching ; and my own safety, 
and that of the generous family who had 
manifested so much kindness to me, rendered 
it expedient for me to depart without delay. 
I accordingly left them with many acknow- 
ledgments for their hospitality, and in a few 
days reached my native town, to the great joy 
of my mother and friends, who thought I was 
dead, or a prisoner, or perhaps had enlisted 
in the continental army. This latter, which 
my mother very much feared, would probably 
have been the case, had not my affliction pre- 
vented it, as a number of the officers endea- 
voured to flatter me into it, by promising that if 
I would join them I should have the honour of 
wearing a sword, and of being the youngest 
standard-bearer in the army. But Providence 
ordered it otherwise. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



45 



CHAPTER IV. 

Mr. Ware enlists again — Hears of the victory at Trenton — Is 
not called into service — Sick among strangers — Considers his 
country's cause as safe, and turns his attention to the state of 
his soul — Confused and perplexed with his doctrinal views — 
Expresses to his mother his doubts respecting his creed, which 
gives her much uneasiness — His faith becomes unsettled, and 
his mind troubled with infidelity — Restrained from gross vice by 
physical imbecility and checks of conscience — Mind much dis- 
turbed — Reads much, but to little purpose — Tempted to doubt 
Providence — Gloomy and desponding — Forms an acquaintance 
with a young man studying navigation, and enters into arrange- 
ments to pursue the study, and to go to sea with him in a vessel 
to be commanded by his brother — Providentially rescued, by 
being accidentally drawn to hear a Methodist preacher preach, 
under whose discourse he was much enlightened and strength- 
ened to seek the Lord — Finds peace — Writes to the preacher — 
Reflections respecting Mount Holly, where he was converted — 
Anecdote of a Quakeress — Love feast. 

I continued brooding over the gloomy 
destiny of my native state, in which all the 
horrors of war were experienced, attended 
with the most disheartening circumstances, 
until the intelligence arrived that the Hessian 
army were made prisoners. On hearing this, 
a glow of health reddened my cheek, and I 
again volunteered for the service. But, after 
starting for the army, we were met with the 
cheering intelligence of the brilliant affair at 
Trenton, and my companions in arms returned 
home singing for joy. I, however, was destined 



46 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



to remain long among strangers, sick, and 
nigh unto death. 

From this time I considered my country 
safe, nor ever after sickened at the thought of 
wearing the chains of civil bondage. But, 
alas ! I wore chains infinitely more galling 
than any ever forged by an earthly tyrant. 
My soul was in bondage to sin. Civil freedom 
I thought I understood, and gloried much in 
it. But the perfect law of liberty, promul- 
gated by Jesus Christ the Son of the living 
God, I understood not. This law is indeed 
suited to the lapsed state of man. To all it 
affords grace to accept of its provisions — asks 
not holiness as a condition of pardon and 
mercy, but faith; and by love are its requisi- 
tions fulfilled. When the trembling jailer 
inquired of Paul and Silas what he must do 
to be saved — saved from the guilt he felt and 
the vengeance he feared — they replied, " Be- 
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved." But alas ! I knew this not. My 
views were confused, and I understood not 
the plan of salvation. I thought of man as 
under the law purely, which gives no strength 
to keep it, and requires perfect obedience, on 
pain of suffering its penalty. If some were 
elected, they could no more live by such a law 
than those who were passed by. But to these 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 47 

the curses of the law were quite harmless ; for 
although it called for vengeance on them, and 
thundered its anathemas against them, they 
were averted by a mighty arm, and fell with 
double force upon those devoted to eternal 
pain. Such were my confused views about 
religion. Now what could such a one as I 
do? My physical powers were prostrated 
by disease, and my mind bewildered by the 
religious opinions I had been taught in my 
childhood, without being able to understand 
them. It is true, I sometimes read ; but su- 
perstitiously believing that God's effective will 
was hidden from man, I doubted much if what I 
read was true. For if God does not will that 
all should come to him, through Christ, and 
be saved, I inquired, what in fact does he 
will? If salvation be not conditional, may 
not some who live and die in sin escape at 
last ? Can it be consistent with the divine 
veracity to say, that God secretly wills the 
death of most men, though he plainly declares 
he is " not willing that any should perish, but 
that all should come to repentance ?" 2 Peter 
iii, 9. As well may we suppose that he se- 
cretly designs that all shall live, though he 
has denounced eternal punishment against the 
finally impenitent. Such were my reason- 
ings. 



48 



I had been led to infer, from the effect my 
reading of the Catechism and Confession of 
Faith had produced on my mind, that no 
human being was ever properly in a state of 
trial, not even Adam himself. I accordingly 
expressed to my mother my disbelief, for the 
reason I have named, in the doctrine set forth 
in those works. She seemed much concerned, 
and said, " Beware, my son, how you believe 
a doctrine false which is so clearly proved by 
Scripture. " I know," said I, " our minister 
told us last sabbath that God's decrees ever 
had in view his own glory and the salvation 
of the elect by Jesus Christ; and that this 
was true even in respect to the transgression 
and fall of our first parents ; but tell me, my 
dear mother, whose glory and benefit had he 
in view when he decreed the damnation of 
millions of his unborn, and consequently unof- 
fending creatures ? Alas ! how can I love a 
God whom I view as making man, willing 
him to sin, and then punishing him eternally 
for it ?" Here I was silenced by my mother's 
tears. But I could not longer hold to this 
system. In leaving it, however, I did not find 
the right way. I resorted to nature's laws as 
my guide, preferring to believe that the Deity 
had revealed no will, rather than admit that 
he had revealed one so much at variance with 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 49 

himself and the dictates of reason — that he 
had made no decree with respect to the future 
destiny of man, rather than entertain the 
opinion that he had made one in which he has 
sworn by himself he has no pleasure. 

In this state of mind a wide door was open 
before me to launch forth into all the vices 
and follies of that dark and cloudy day. But 
two things, providentially, operated as a check 
upon me. My physical powers were para- 
lyzed by protracted affliction ; and my con- 
science, though greatly darkened, had yet 
some influence to restrain me from licentious 
freedom in a course of wickedness. But how 
easily is man blinded by the deceitfulness of 
sin? "When reason, always proud, silences 
conscience by a too hasty decision against 
its dictates, what is man? A steed broken 
loose, bounding over hill and dale, gambolling 
in the wilderness and on the barren waste. 
Thus was it with me, fool that I was. But 
the horrifying profaneness of scoffing infidels, 
with whom I came in contact, so shocked my 
feelings that I sped my way back, or rather 
turned aside, and sought an asylum from my 
woes in gloomy solitude. 

I was now, for several months, little better 
than a maniac. I delighted in nothing so 
much as in being alone. To wander in re- 
3 



50 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WAR'j 

tired places, and indulge in the reveries of my 
own mind, or among the works of God, with 
which I was surrounded ; sometimes cherish- 
ing the delightful thought that I had an inte- 
rest in the great Parent of all, and was an ob- 
ject of his pity, accorded most with my state 
of feeling. And, on such occasions, I was 
sometimes melted to tears. At other times I 
was led to adopt th^: language of the poet, — 

" Ten thousand midnights roll'd their midnight gloom, 
In sullen pomp, along a starless sky!" 

At times I devoted myself much to reading. 
Interesting histories I preferred to any other 
solid works ; but novels took the lead, and I 
devoured all I could procure. With my 
jaundiced eyes I could find nothing in the Bi- 
ble whereon to build, but a doubtful perad- 
venture — a mere shadow — and with this I 
dare no more converse than with a spectre 
from the dismal shades. In such a state 
where or to whom could I go for instruction 
and relief? 

There were indeed in the place a little pray- 
ing, self-denying band of Christians. But 
they were held in derision by the laughing 
multitude, and denounced as fanatics by the 
graver sort. These could have told me what 
I so much desired to know, and led me to the 
Rock cleft for me and all mankind. But of 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



51 



this I was ignorant ; and I fled to gloomy so- 
litude, foster-mother of moping melancholy 
and sad despair. Look which way I would, 
all was darkness — darkness through which 
no ray of light could pass, except a sudden 
flash like vivid lightning, too quickly gone to 
show from whence it came. 

I was urged on by the subtle foe to doubt 
of providence and of the immortality of the 
soul — at least of consciousness to those who 
sleep in death until the end of time ; and that 
sleep I sometimes much coveted. But some- 
thing gently whispered in my ear, " Be on 
your guard — these melancholy thoughts may 
pave the way to suicide, and bring upon your 
name an indelible stain. Think how the tale 
of horror would petrify the heart of your dear 
mother, in whose fond maternal arms you 
were so lately caressed, and from whom you 
have so often received the affectionate charge 
to lead a virtuous life. If her peace weigh 
aught with you, beware !" 

But it is not in solitude alone that the insidi- 
ous foe works ill to man, although few escape 
who devote themselves to gloomy meditations 
upon the condition into which their conduct, 
or the errors of an appalling creed, have 
brought them. With almost as much reason 
might one expect to hail the dawn of day 



52 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

who makes the hungry lion's den his retreat 
for the night, as to hope to escape uninjured 
by dwelling upon these things alone. But he 
who meditates my ruin cares not which way 
I take, the pleasurable or the forlorn, so it 
leads me to the ruin he meditates. 

About this time I contracted an acquaint- 
ance with a young man of insinuating man- 
ners, who was completing the study of navi- 
gation. He was expecting to go to sea with 
a brother-in-law, who was an experienced 
commander, as his mate in a brig which was 
nearly fitted for the voyage. He had the 
address to induce me to engage in the 
same study with him, promising to give 
me all the aid he could until the brig was 
ready, and that I should have the steward's 
berth on board, when he would assist me in 
my studies until I had acquired a knowledge 
of the art. And he said he doubted not that 
we should make our fortunes. The brig was 
to carry a few long guns, have a picked crew, 
and outsail every thing on the seas. Such 
were the inducements held out to me to enlist 
in the enterprise. But I knew not the deep- 
laid scheme. The truth of the matter was, as 
it turned out, that the owners were their coun- 
try's enemies ; and the brig was designed to 
carry on a contraband trade with the British. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 53 

Between the owners and the enemy there was 
an understanding. The vessel, laden with 
provisions, was to be thrown in their way, and 
to be captured ; and then a liberal price was 
to be paid for the cargo, and she permitted to 
escape. Some of the persons engaged in this 
adventure had held offices under the govern- 
ment, and were still deemed friends to their 
country. They had, besides, enticed some 
who had borne a conspicuous part in the ser- 
vice to favour their plot, not doubting of suc- 
cess ; and, if they could not persuade those who 
were not in it that their capture was real and 
unavoidable, they hoped to quiet them with 
money. 

Ignorant of all this design and treachery, I 
was drawn to the very verge of the abyss, and 
suspected it not. The brig was ready to sail, 
and the captain was in our village. I had 
been introduced to him, and the time was set 
for me to prepare, at a moment's warning, to 
embark and enter upon the duties of my of- 
fice. Thus things stood, when a merciful 
Providence interposed, and prevented my 
name being enrolled upon the scroll of infa- 
my. I was as a frail bark tossed upon a 
stormy and unknown sea. The sea had be- 
come calm, but I had neared a vortex, and 
had been well nigh swallowed up. But a kind 



5-1 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



breeze sprung up at the moment of imminent 
danger, and I was wafted into a harbour of 
safety and delight. 

Impatient for the hour to arrive when I was 
to enter upon an enterprise on which I was 
fully bent, I wandered to a neighbouring 
grove, not merely to indulge in reverie, but to 
think more minutely on the subject of our ad- 
venture than I had before done. While I was 
labouring to find arguments to justify the 
course I was about to pursue, a stranger passed 
me, though I was so merged in the thicket 
that he did not see me. As he was going by, 
he began to sing the following lines :— 

" Still out of the deepest abyss 
Of trouble I mournfully cry, 
And pine to recover my peace, 
And see my Redeemer and die. 

I cannot, I cannot forbear 

These passionate longings for home; 

O ! when shall my spirit be there 1 
O ! when will the messenger come T' 

As he walked his horse slowly I heard 
every word distinctly, and was deeply touch- 
ed, not only with the melody of his voice, 
which was among the best I ever heard, but 
with the words he uttered, and especially the 
couplet,— 

" I cannot, I cannot forbear 

These passionate longings for horned* 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 55 

After he ceased, I went out and followed 
him a great distance, hoping he would begin 
again. He however stopped at the house of 
a Methodist, and dismounted. I then con- 
cluded he must be a Methodist preacher, and 
would probably preach that evening. I felt 
a wish to hear him ; but thought I could not in 
consequence of a previous engagement. 

As yet I knew very little of the Methodists. 
My mother, who was strongly prejudiced 
against them, charged me to refrain from gO- 
ing after them ; and I had heard many things 
said against them, especially that they were 
disaffected against their country. There was 
one Methodist in town, however, to whom I 
was under some obligation. This good man 
had noticed me ; and, suspecting that I was 
under some religious impressions, he came 
and told me that Mr. Pedicord, a most excel- 
lent preacher, had come into the place, and 
would preach that night, and he very much 
wished me to hear him. I told him I pre- 
sumed I had seen the preacher, and mention- 
ed the lines I had heard him sing on the road. 
On inquiring of him if he knew such a hymn, 
he replied that he did very well, and imme- 
diately commenced and sung it to the same 
tune ; and, as he was an excellent singer, 
I was deeply affected, even to tears. I told 



56 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

him I would be glad to hear Mr. Pedicord, 
and probably should hear a part of the sermon, 
and possibly the whole, if it were not too long. 
I accordingly went, and was there when the 
preacher commenced his service. I thought 
he sung and prayed delightfully. His text 
was taken from the 24th chapter of Luke : 
" Then opened he their understanding, that 
they might understand the Scriptures. And 
he said unto them, Thus it is written, and 
thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise 
from the dead the third day, that repentance 
and remission of sins should be preached in 
his name among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem." Soon was I convinced that all 
men were redeemed and might be saved — 
and saved now, from the guilt, practice, and 
love of sin. With this I was greatly affected, 
and could hardly refrain from exclaiming 
aloud, " This is the best intelligence I ever 
heard." When the meeting closed, I hasten- 
ed to my lodgings, retired to my room, fell 
upon my knees before God, and spent much 
of the night in penitential tears. I did not 
once think of my engagement with my sea- 
bound companions until the next day, when I 
went and told the young man who had induced 
me to enlist into the project that I had aban- 
doned all thoughts of going to sea. They, 



MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 57 

however, proceeded in their perilous under- 
taking, were betrayed, their officers thrown 
into prison, and the brig and cargo confisca- 
ted. When I heard of this, I praised the Lord 
for my deliverance from this danger and in- 
famy, which I considered worse than death. 

I now gave up the study of navigation, and 
abandoned all company but that of the pious. 
The New Testament I read over and over, 
and was charmed with the character of God 
our Saviour, as revealed in it ; and I esteem- 
ed reproach, for his sake, more desirable than 
all earthly treasure. 

Mr. Pedicord returned again to our village. 
I hastened to see him, and tell him all that 
was in my heart. He shed tears over me, 
and prayed. I was dissolved in tears. He 
prayed again. My soul was filled with unut- 
terable delight. He now rejoiced over me 
as a son — " an heir of God, and a joint heir 
with Christ." I felt and knew that I was 
made free. And, as I had been firm in my 
attachment to the cause of civil freedom, I did 
hope that I should be enabled to stand fast in 
the liberty wherewith Christ had made me 
free. 

I was now brought to reflect upon the cir- 
cumstance w T hich had led to this change in me 
—this happy change, so sudden, so great, as 
3* 



58 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

hardly left a vestige of my former self. By it 
all worldly maxims were reversed, and prin- 
ciples, quite new, of honour and of shame, 
were introduced as governing the whole man. 
It had been said that the Methodists, with 
Wesley at their head, were bringing shame 
upon the whole Christian world by preaching 
up free will, and causing men to err and even 
blaspheme against the doctrine of divine de- 
crees ; that they maintained that all were re- 
deemed and might share alike in the blessings 
of the gospel-feast ; and that one of these 
preachers, mighty in words, would, were it 
possible, deceive the very elect. Such re- 
marks respecting them induced a desire and 
determination in me to hear them, though I 
doubted much whether this new sect were 
sustained by the sacred oracles. It was soon 
after I formed this determination that the ex- 
cellent Pedicord came to our village, and I 
was providentially led, as before stated, to 
hear him. 

Soon after I wrote to the good man, in a 
manner expressive of my feelings when I first 
heard him preach, as well as those which fol- 
lowed. In the ardour and simplicity of my 
soul, I said, "A thousand blessings on the 
man who brought me this intelligence. On 
my bended knees I owned the doctrine true, 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 59 

and said, it was enough — I may be happy — 
heaven may be mine, since Jesus tasted death 
for all, and wills them to be saved ! But I am 
not myself ; my hopes and fears are new. 
O may I never lose this tenderness of heart. 
Yes, my friend, I am thy debtor. To me 
thou hast restored my Bible and my God. 
And shall I be ungrateful 1 No. I will see 
thee and confess the whole. Thy God and 
thy people shall be mine." 

Mount Holly,* a pleasant village in the 
county of Burlington, New- Jersey, was the 
place of my spiritual birth; and, on that ac- 
count, it has ever been to me the most lovely 
spot I ever saw^, not even excepting Green- 
wich, the place of my nativity. I w x as here 

* Here, in the summer of '76, we halted on our way to Perth 
Amboy. We were all volunteers, and chiefly young - . Walking 
one day thoughtfully in an unfrequented part of the town I came 
near to a neat little dwelling, rather tastefully surrounded with 
fruit trees. A lady, in the habit of a Quakeress, invited me in, 
remarking that she had something to say to me. So saying, 
she took me by the hand and led me into the house. When I 
was seated, she inquired with an affectionate look, "Hast thou 
a mother V I replied that, when 1 left home, I had, and that 
there was such a resemblance between her and my mother, both in 
person and tone of voice, that I could not but be moved at see- 
ing and hearing her speak. " Was thy mother consenting at 
thy becoming a soldier ?" she inquired. I stated that she had 
many fears on my account ; but, believing that many mothers 
must be called to part with their sons in the nation's struggle for 
independence, she gave her consent, hoping that it might be the 
will of God to preserve me." " Thy mother, then, is pious," 



■60 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



in former years as a soldier, on my way to 
the army, and this was my retreat, when, in 
a state of melancholy bordering on despair, I 
sought concealment. Here, now, while the 
joyous villagers sought me in vain on the 
playful green, I passed the solemn twilight in 
audience with my God. Here, too, I had 
spent the livelong day in fasting and melting 
thoughts on Calvary, agitated with petrifying 
fears and gloomy horrors ; sometimes imagi- 
ning sounds of ominous import, as though the 
mountain-tops had become the rendezvous of 
fiends or beasts of prey. But when the dis- 
quietude of my mind w T as allayed by the 

she added. "Yes," I replied, " my mother is pious; but she is 
a predestinarian in her views, and fondly hopes that it is the 
will of God that our country shall be free; and, on that account, 
gave her consent the more readily." " Thee knows," said the 
kind-hearted woman, " the Friends do not hold to war ; and my 
heart is pained to see so many goodly young men called from 
home, and exposed to the dangers of the camp — many doubtless 
to be slaughtered or led away captive. It may be, as thy mo- 
ther supposes, the will of our heavenly Father that we should be 
free. But, were it so, it might doubtless be effected without 
the shedding of blood. For thy sake, and for thy mother's 
sake, I hope the Lord will preserve thee; and, if thou cast thy 
care upon him, in well-doing, he will preserve thee." Then, 
giving me some choice fruit, she charged me to abstain from the 
use of strong drink, saying, " It is a deslroyer, and I fear it has 
destroyed my youngest son." "Now," added she, " if thou 
dost, from the fear of God, abstain from strong drink, I am sure 
he will preserve thee." And, from that hour, I have only used 
it medicinally. When -I drew my rations, as a soldier, I poured 
it upon the ground. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 61 

peaceful enjoyment of the grace of life, I no 
longer sought concealment ; and it was 
strange to see with what amazement manj 
listened while I told them what the Lord had 
done for me. Some wept bitterly, confessed 
their ignorance of such a state, and pro- 
nounced me happy ; while others thought me 
mad, and on the Methodists, not on me, laid 
all the blame of what they conceived to be 
my derangement. 

The spirit and character of the work which 
was prevailing through the country at this 
time may be gathered from an account of a 
love feast, as furnished by me for the Chris- 
tian Advocate and Journal, and published in 
that paper. 

In the year of our Lord 1780, when we 
were contending for independence, not with 
Great Britain alone, but with her Indian and 
Hessian mercenaries, and what was worse, 
with many of our fellow-citizens who despised 
independence, or, in despair of obtaining it, 
had joined the enemy ; when our country was 
laid waste by fire and sword, and many hun- 
dreds who had embarked in the cause of 
freedom were perishing in captivity, with 
hunger and cold; when many bosoms were 
agitated with the thoughts of revenge on our 
cruel and unnatural enemies, and resolved 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



with independence to live or die — it was at 
such a time as this, when little was known, or 
thought, or said about the way to heaven, a 
missionary of the Methodist order volunteered 
for East Jersey, and was instrumental in pro- 
ducing a religious excitement of a very inte- 
resting character. Many who seemed to have 
forgotten that they were accountable creatures, 
and lived in enmity one with another on 
account of the part they had taken in the great 
national quarrel, were brought to follow the ad- 
vice of St Paul, u Be ye kind one to another, 
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even 
as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you." 

Of this I saw a pleasing exhibition in a love- 
feast, at a quarterly meeting held by our mis- 
sionary, Mr. George Mair, previous to his 
taking leave of his spiritual children in the 
north-west part of East Jersey. I saw T there 
those who had cordially hated lovingly em- 
brace each other, and heard them praise the 
Lord who had made them one in Christ. 
The meeting was held in a barn, attended by 
several preachers, one of whom opened it on 
Saturday, and great power attended the word; 
many wept aloud, some for joy, and some for 
grief ; many, filled with amazement, fled, and 
left room for the preachers to have access 
to the mourners to pray with and exhort them 



MEMOIR OF REV, THOMAS WARE, 63 

to believe in the Lord Jesus, which many did, 
and rejoiced with great joy. Such a meeting 
I had never seen before. 

Next morning we met early for love-feast 
All that had obtained peace with God, and all 
who were seeking it, were invited, arid the 
barn was nearly full. As few present had 
ever been in a love-feast, Mr. Mair explained 
to us its nature and design, namely, to take a 
little bread and water, not as a sacrament, but 
in token of our Christian love, in imitation of 
a primitive usage, and then humbly and briefly 
to declare the great things the Lord had done 
for them in having had mercy on them. 

Mr. James Sterling, of Burlington, "West 
Jersey, was the first who spoke, and the plain 
and simple narrative of his Christian experi- 
ence was very affecting to many. After him 
rose one of the new converts, a Mr. Egbert, 
and said, " I was standing in my door, and 
saw a man at a distance, well mounted on 
horseback, and as he drew near I had thoughts 
of hailing him, to inquire the news; but he 
forestalled me by turning into my yard and 
saying to me, ' Pray, sir, can you tell me the 
way to heaven?' 'The way to heaven, sir! 
we all hope to get to heaven, and there are 
many ways that men take.' ' Ah ! but,' said 
the stranger, 'I want to know the best way.' 



64 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

'Alight, sir, if you please ; I should like to hear 
you talk about the way you deem the best. 
When I was a boy I used to hear my mother 
talk about the way to heaven, and I am under 
an impression you must know the way.' He 
did alight, and I was soon convinced the judg- 
ment I had formed of the stranger was true. 
My doors were opened, and my neighbours 
invited to come and see and hear a man who 
could and would, I verily believed, tell us the 
best way to heaven. And it was not long 
before myself, my wife, and several of my 
family, together with many of my neighbours, 
were well assured we were in the way, for 
we had peace with God, with one another, 
and did ardently long and fervently pray for 
the peace and salvation of all men. 1 Tell 
me, friends,' said he, ' is not this the way to 
heaven V 

"It is true, many of us were for a time 
greatly alarmed and troubled. We communed 
together, and said, It is a doubtful case if God 
will have mercy on us, and forgive us our 
sins; and if he does, it must be after we have 
passed through long and deep repentance. 
But our missionary, to whom we jointly made 
known our unbelieving fears, said to us, 
' Cheer up, my friends, ye are not far from 
the kingdom of God. Can any of you be a 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 65 

greater sinner than Saul of Tarsus ? and how 
long did it take him to repent ? Three days 
were all. The Philippian jailer, too, in the 
same hour in which he was convicted, was 
baptized, rejoicing in God, with all his house. 
Come,' said he, 1 let us have faith in God, 
remembering the saying of Christ, Ye believe 
in God, believe also in me. Come, let us go 
down upon our knees and claim the merit of 
his death for the remission of sins, and he will 
do it — look to yourselves, each man, God is 
here.' Instantly one who was, I thought, the 
greatest sinner in the house except myself, 
fell to the floor as one dead, and we thought 
he was dead; but he was not literally dead, 
for there he sits with as significant a smile as 
any one present.' " Here the youth of whom 
he spoke uttered the word glory, with a look 
and tone of voice that ran through the audi- 
ence like an electric shock, and for a time 
interrupted the speaker; but he soon resumed 
his narrative, by saying, " The preacher bid 
us not be alarmed — we must all die to live. 
Instantly I caught him in my arms and ex- 
claimed, The guilt I felt, and the vengeance I 
feared, are gone, and now I know heaven is 
not far off ; but here, and there, and where- 
ever Jesus manifests himself, is heaven.'' " 
Here his powers of speech failed, and he sat 



66 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

down and wept, and there was not, I think, 
one dry eye in the barn. 

A German spoke next, and if I could tell 
what he said as told by him, it would be 
worth a place in any man's memory. But 
this I cannot do. He, however, spoke to the 
following import: — "When de preacher did 
come to mine house, and did say, 1 Peace be 
on dis habitation ; I am come, fader, to see 
if in dese troublesome times I can find any 
in your parts dat does know de way to dat 
country where war, sorrow, and crying is no 
more ; and of whom could I inquire so pro- 
perly as of one to whom God has given many 
days T When he did say dis, I was angry, 
and did try to say to him, Go out of mine 
house ; but I could not speak, but did tremble, 
and when mine anger w T as gone I did say, I 
does fear I does not know de way to dat 
goodist place, but mine wife does know ; sit 
down, and I will call her. Just den mine 
wife did come in, and de stranger did say, 
' Dis, fader, is, I presume, yourn wife, of 
whom you say she does know de way to a 
better country, de way to heaven. Dear wo- 
man, will you tell it me V After mine wife 
did look at de stranger one minute, she did 
say, I do know Jesus, and is not he de way ? 
De stranger did den fall on his knees and 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 67 

tank God for bringing him to mine house, 
where dere was one dat did know de way 
to heaven ; he did den pray for me and mine 
children, dat we might be like mine wife, 
and all go to heaven togeder. Mine wife did 
den pray in Dutch, and some of mine children 
did fall on deir knees, and I did fall on mine, 
and when she did pray no more de preacher 
did pray again, and mine oldest daughter did 
cry so loud. 

"From dat time I did seek de Lord, and 
did fear he would not hear me, for I had 
made de heart of mine wife so sorry when I 
did tell her she was mad. But de preacher 
did show me so many promises dat I did 
tell mine wife if she would forgive me, and fast 
and pray wid me all day and all night, I 
did hope de Lord would forgive me. Dis 
did please mine wife, but she did say, We must 
do all in de name of de Lord Jesus. About 
de middle of de night I did tell mine wife I 
should not live till morning, mine distress was 
too great, But she did say, Mine husband, 
God will not let you die ; and just as de day 
did break, mine heart did break, and tears did 
run so fast, and I did say, Mine wife, I does 
now believe mine God will bless me, and she 
did say, Amen, amen, come, Lord Jesus. 
Just den mine oldest daughter, who had been 



68 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



praying all night, did come in and did fall on 
mine neck, and said, O mine fader, Jesus has 
blessed me. And den joy did come into mine 
heart, and we have gone on rejoicing in de 
Lord ever since. Great fear did fall on mine 
neighbours, and mine barn would not hold all 
de peoples dat does come to learn de way 
to heaven." His looks, his tears, and his 
broken English, kept the people in tears, 
mingled with smiles, and even laughter, not 
with lightness, but joy, for they believed every 
word he said. 

After him, one got up and said, For months 
previous to the coming of Mr. Mairs into their 
place, he was one of the most wretched of 
men. He had heard of the Methodists, and 
the wonderful works done among them, and 
joined in ascribing it all to the devil. At 
length a fear fell on him ; he thought he 
should die and be lost. He lost all relish for 
food, and sleep departed from him. His friends 
thought him mad; but his own conclusion was, 
that he was a reprobate, having been brought 
up a Calvinist ; and he was tempted to shoot 
himself, that he might know the worst. He at 
length resolved he would hear the Methodists ; 
and when he came, the barn was full ; there 
was, however, room at the door, where he 
could see the preacher, and hear well. He 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 69 

was soon convinced he was no reprobate, and 
felt a heart to beg of God to forgive him for 
ever harbouring a thought that he, the kind 
Parent of all, had reprobated any of his chil- 
dren. And listening, he at length understood 
the cause of his wretchedness ; it w 7 as guilt, 
from which Jesus came to save us. The 
people all around him being in tears, and 
hearing one in the barn cry, Glory to Jesus, 
hardly knowing what he did, he drew his hat 
from under his arm, and swinging it over his 
head, began to huzza with might and main. 
The preacher saw him and knew he was not 
in sport, for the tears were flowing down his 
face, and smiling, said, " Young man, thou art 
not far from the kingdom of God; but rather 
say, Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth." Several others spoke, and more 
w r ould have spoken, had not a general cry 
arisen when the doors were thrown open that 
all might come in and see the way that God 
sometimes works. 



70 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



CHAPTER V. 

Anecdote of Richard Ivy and two American officers — Mr. 
Ware's religious friends signify their belief of his call to preach 
■ — He doubts — Bishop Asbury sends for him and examines him 
respecting some things reported of him and his doctrinal views — 
Sends him to Dover circuit — He is kindly received on the 
circuit — Sees fruit of his labours — Preaches in a church where 
the vestrymen undertake to turn him out, but are defeated. 

Soon after I joined the Methodist society, 
Messrs. Pedicord and Cromwell were removed 
from our circuit, and Dudley and Ivy ap- 
pointed in their place.* In one part of the 
circuit there were several families who had 
received the preachers from the beginning. 
Some of these were the most wealthy and 
respectable in the vicinity, only they were 
suspected of being unfriendly to the cause of 
their country. They had joined the Method- 
ists before the war commenced. ; and though 
they had committed no act by which they 
could be justly accused of opposition to the 
declaration of independence, yet as they re- 
fused to bear arms they were considered 
hostile to it, and the preachers suspected of 
disaffection on account of continuing to preach 
at their houses. 

* It appears from the minutes that this change took place in 
1780. The circuit was then called Delaware.— Editor. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 71 

Learning that a company of soldiers, quar- 
tered near one of these appointments, had 
resolved to arrest the first preacher who 
should come there, and carry him to head quar- 
ters, I determined to accompany him, hoping, 
as I was acquainted with some of the officers, 
to convince them that he was no enemy to 
his country. The preacher was Richard Ivy, 
who was at that time quite young. The 
rumour of what was about to be done having 
gone abroad, many of the most respectable 
inhabitants of the neighbourhood were col- 
lected at the place. Soon after the congrega- 
tion were convened, a file of soldiers were 
marched into the yard and halted near the 
door; and two officers came in, drew their 
swords and crossed them on the table, and 
seated themselves, one at each side of it, but 
so as to look the preacher full in the face. 
I watched his eye with great anxiety, and 
soon saw that he was not influenced by fear. 
His text was, " Fear not, little flock, for it is 
your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
kingdom.'" When he came to enforce the 
exhortation, " Fear not," he paused, and said, 
" Christians sometimes fear when there is no 
cause of fear." And so, he added, he pre- 
sumed it was with some then present. Those 
men who were 1 engaged in the defence of their 



72 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

country's rights meant them no harm. He 
spoke fluently and forcibly in commendation 
of the cause of freedom from foreign and do- 
mestic tyranny, looking at the same time first 
on the swords and then in the faces of the 
officers, as if he would say, This looks a little 
too much like domestic oppression ; and in 
conclusion, bowing to each of the officers and 
opening his bosom, said, "Sirs, I would fain 
show you my heart ; if it beats not high for 
legitimate liberty, may it for ever cease to 
beat !" This he said in such a tone of voice, 
and with such a look, as thrilled the whole 
audience, and gave him command of their 
feelings. The countenances of the officers at 
first wore a contemptuous frown; then a sig- 
nificant smile ; and then they were completely 
unarmed, hung down their heads, and, before 
the conclusion of this masterly address, shook 
like the leaves of an aspen. Many of the 
people sobbed aloud, and others cried out, 
Amen! while the soldiers without (the- doors 
and windows being open) swung their hats 
and shouted, Huzza for the Methodist parson ! 
On leaving, the officers shook hands with the 
preacher, and wished him well; and after- 
ward said, they would share their last shilling 
with him. 

From the time I made a public profession 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 73 

of religion, many of my brethren thought I 
was called to preach, and told me so. But I 
believed them not. The affectionate solici- 
tude I felt for the salvation of sinners, which 
had prompted me to some bold acts that I 
had performed from a sense of duty, I did not 
construe as a call to the ministry, but as a 
collateral evidence of my adoption into the 
family of God. That a knowledge of the 
learned languages was essential to qualify a 
man to preach the gospel, as many seemed to 
think, I did not believe, for some of the best 
preachers I ever heard had it not ; but they 
had other qualifications — a good natural un- 
derstanding and discriminating powers, which 
fall not to the common lot of men, however 
pious and learned they may be. When my 
feelings were moved on the subject of reli- 
gion and the salvation of souls, I could talk 
somewhat readily ; and I sometimes had the 
eloquence of tears. My capacity and know- 
ledge were, in my own estimation, too limit- 
ed ever to think of being a preacher. I was 
a leader and an exhorter ; and more than 
these I never expected to be. 

Such were my views and feelings when 
Bishop Asbury came to New-Mills, about 
seven miles from Mount Holly, and sent for me 
to come and see him. I had not been intro- 
4 



74 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

duced to him, nor did he previously know me. 
On entering his room, he fixed his discrimina- 
ting eye upon me, and seemed to be examin- 
ing me from head to foot as I approached 
him. He reached me his hand, and said, 
" This, I suppose, is brother Ware, or, shall I 
say, Pedicord the younger." I replied, " My 
name is Ware, sir, and I claim some affinity 
to the Wesley an family, and Mr. Pedicord as 
my spiritual father." " You then revere the 
father of the Methodists'?" said he. " I do," I 
replied, " greatly; the first time I heard his 
name mentioned, it was said of him, by way 
of reproach, that he had brought shame upon 
the Christian world by preaching up free will. 
Free will, said I, and what would you have 
him preach ? bound will ? he might as well 
go with St. Patrick and preach to the fish, as 
preach to men without a will. From that 
time, I resolved to hear the Methodists, 
against whom I had been so much preju- 
diced." 

" Sit down," said Mr. Asbury, " I have some- 
what to say unto thee. Have all men since 
the fall been possessed of free will ?" I re- 
plied, that I considered they had since the 
promise made to Adam, that the seed of the 
woman should bruise the serpent's head. 
" Can man then turn himself and live ?" said 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 75 

he. " So thought Ezekiel," I replied, " when 
he said, Turn yourselves and live;" remarking, 
as I understood it, that he can receive the tes- 
timony which God has given of his Son ; and 
thus, through grace, receive power to be- 
come a child of God. " Are all men account- 
able to God?" he still further inquired. I 
replied, " The almighty Jesus says, ' Behold 
I come quickly, and my reward is with me, 
to give to every man according as his works 
shall be.' " " On what do you found the doc- 
trine of universal accountability ?" he added. 
" On the doctrine of universal grace — ' The 
grace of God which bringeth salvation hath 
appeared unto all men,' " &c, was my reply. 

He then looked at me very sternly, and 
said, " What is this I hear of you? It is said 
you have disturbed the peaceful inhabitants 
of Holly, by rudely entering into a house 
where a large number of young people were 
assembled for innocent amusement, and when 
welcomed by the company and politely invited 
to be seated, you refused, and proceeded to 
address them in such a way that some be- 
came alarmed and withdrew, and the rest soon 
followed." To this I answered, " My zeal in 
this affair may have carried me too far. But 
I knew them to be generally my friends and 
well-wishers, and felt to do as the man 



76 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



out of whom Christ cast a legion of devils 
was directed, namely, to go and show my 
friends how great things God had done for 
me. It is true, when I entered the room, 
some appeared delighted to see me, and 
heartily welcomed me ; but those who knew 
.ne best appeared sad. And when invited to 
take a glass and be seated, I told them I must 
be excused, for I had not come to spend the 
evening with them, but to invite them to spend 
it with me. ' You know me/ I said, 1 and how 
delighted I have often been in your company, 
and with the amusements in which you have 
met to indulge. But I cannot now go with 
you. My conscience will not permit me to 
do so. But as none of your consciences, I am 
persuaded, forbid your going with me, I have 
come to invite you to go with me and hear 
the excellent Mr. Pedicord preach his farewell 
sermon. Pardon me, my friends, I am con- 
strained to tell you, the Lord has done great 
things for me through the instrumentality of 
this good man.' The circle was not very 
large. Not a word of reply was made to 
what I said. Some were affected, and soon 
left after I withdrew. It is true some of the 
citizens were offended, and said it was too 
much that the Methodists should give tone to 
the town. * Must the youth of Mount Holly/ 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 77 

said they, ' ask leave of the Methodists if 
they would spend an evening together in in- 
nocent amusement?' Others said, 'The young 
man must have acted from a divine impulse, 
or he could not have done it, as he is natu- 
rally diffident and unassuming.' But I never 
knew that any one of the party was offended ." 

Bishop Asbury listened to this simple ex- 
planation of the matter attentively, but with- 
out relaxing the sternness of his look, or 
making any reply to it. He then branched 
off to another subject. " Was it not bold and 
adventurous," said he, " for so young a Method- 
ist to fill, for a whole week, without license 
or consultation, the appointments of such a 
preacher as George Mair ?' I replied that Mr. 
Mair was suddenly called from the circuit by 
sickness in his family, and I saw that he was 
deeply afflicted, not only on account of the 
distress his family were suffering, but, espe- 
cially, because of the disappointments it must 
occasion on a part of the circuit w here there 
was a good work going on ; that some of these 
appointments were new, and there was no 
one to hold any meeting with the people what- 
ever ; that I was therefore induced, soon after 
he was gone, to resolve on going to some of 
these places and telling those who might come 
out the cause of the preacher's absence ; and 



78 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



that if I was sometimes constrained to exhort 
these people, without a formal license, it was 
with fear and trembling, and generally very 
short, unless when the tears of the people 
caused me to forget that I was on unauthor- 
ized ground. 

He still said nothing, either by way of re- 
proof or commendation, more than the manner 
of his introducing the subjects might seem to 
imply. And being under an impression that 
his remarks were designed to mortify me for 
my course in the matter of the ball, and in 
taking the circuit in the absence of Mr. Mair, 
I said, " Mr. Asbury, if the person who inform- 
ed you against me had told me of my errors, 
I would have acknowledged them." Here he 
stopped me, by clasping me in his arms, and 
saying in an affectionate tone, " You are alto- 
gether mistaken, my son — it was your friend 
Pedicord who told me of your pious deeds, 
and advised that you should be sent to Dover 
circuit, saying that he would be responsible 
that no harm, but good, would result from it." 
He then told me that I must go down to the 
peninsula, and take the Dover circuit, which 
had but one preacher on it ; that I could tell 
the people, if I pleased, that I did not come 
in the capacity of a preacher, but only to 
assist in keeping up the appointments until 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



79 



another could be sent ; and that he would give 
me a testimonial to introduce me. But if they 
did not cordially receive me, he said, I might 
return, and he would see me and compensate 
me for my time and expenses. 

Here I was caught, and how could I decline ? 
If, when my zeal prompted me to take a cir- 
cuit in the absence of a preacher for one week, 
I had found favour in the sight of the people, 
so as to occasion my being recommended to 
Mr. Asbury in this way, ho w could I refuse when 
he requested me to go and assist in keeping 
up the appointments on a circuit which need- 
ed aid, being now regularly licensed to exhort, 
until a preacher could be sent to it ? Sol told 
him, if he insisted on it, I would go and do 
the best I could ; but I feared I should do 
more harm than good, and be unhappy in con- 
sequence of not being in my place. 

Having pledged myself not to delay, early 
in September, 1783, 1 set my face toward the 
peninsula, with a heavy heart. Some of my 
old companions in sin were under religious 
impressions, and were very much afflicted at 
the thought of my leaving them. In Mount 
Holly I thought I might do some good ; but 
at Dover it seemed doubtful. Yet my pledge 
was given, and must be fulfilled. 

I was kindly received by the people on 



80 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

Dover circuit, and soon saw that that was the 
place for me. I was made to forget that I 
w T as among strangers. The simplicity, urba- 
nity, and fervent piety, of the Methodists, on 
Dover circuit, were such that, after visiting a 
society once, it seemed long before I was to 
return to it again. Some of the members 
were wealthy and in the higher circles of life ; 
but they were not ashamed to bear the cross. 
Among these there were some, particularly a 
number of females, distinguished for piety 
and zeal, such as I had never before witness- 
ed. The lady of Counsellor Bassett, and her 
two sisters, Mrs. Jones and Ward, possessed 
an uncommon degree of the true missionary 
spirit, and greatly aided the young preachers, 
by whom, principally, the Lord was carrying 
on his work on that favoured shore. To these 
might be added others, and especially the 
wife of Judge White, who was a mother in 
Israel in very deed. 

There was, at almost every appointment, a 
goodly number of young people, who were 
seeking the Lord. To these I could preach a 
Saviour whom I knew ; and some, at almost 
every meeting, were brought into glorious 
liberty, which had a great effect on others. 
I had the happiness of receiving many of 
these young people into society. In class- 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 81 

meetings, too, I felt much at home ; and fre- 
quently our rejoicing in the Lord was great. 

In my public exercises I was sometimes 
greatly embarrassed, when tears came to my 
relief, which was often the case ; and there 
are few who can resist the eloquence of tears. 
In the meantime I prayed, read, and wrote 
much. My Bible was my chief book. From 
this, with such helps as were within my 
reach, I endeavoured to ascertain the great 
outlines of the " doctrinal map, exhibiting the 
boundaries of truth, the crooked shores of the 
sea of error, the haven of peace, and the dan- 
gerous rocks on which unwary theologians 
have been wrecked." 

I began my public labours by quoting a 
passage which had been studied with much 
prayer, and which I thought I understood, and 
by making some practical remarks upon it. 
After having been often blessed in at- 
tempting to preach, I ventured formally to 
take a text ; but not until advised by some 
whom I considered competent judges that my 
gift was rather to preach than to exhort. 

While on Dover circuit we were invited to 
preach in the Protestant Episcopal Church at 
Duck Creek. Here I met with an occurrence 
which, for the moment, gave me some alarm; 
but it was soon over, and with it tho fear and 
4* 



82 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



confusion of the large congregation in whose 
presence it happened. I had gone through 
with a part of the morning service, and was 
still in the desk, where I gave out my text ; 
but, before I had finished my introductory re- 
marks, three men came marching into the 
church in Indian file, and halted just before 
the desk. The foremost one announced him- 
self as a vestryman, and ordered me out of 
the desk and the church, or, he said, he would 
compel me to go out. Finding I did not com- 
ply, he seized me by the collar and dragged 
me from the desk. On seeing this, a giant of 
a man, near by, seized him in like manner, 
and, raising his huge fist, told him if he did 
not let me go he would knock him down. 
Here Judge Raymond called out and said, 
" Don't strike him, Mr. Skillington ; and if he 
does not let the preacher go, and cease to 
disturb the congregation, I will commit him." 
He, however, had let go his hold of me when 
threatened by Mr. S. ; and with his few 
companions retired. So we got rid of our 
zealous Churchman. 



MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 83 



CHAPTER VL 

Mr. Ware attends conference, for the first time, in 1784, in 
Baltimore — Observations upon the preachers — Is impressed 
that he ought to go home ; but yields to the advice of his friends 
and spiritual advisers to remain in the work — Is appointed to 
Kent circuit, eastern shore of Maryland — Anecdote of a cler- 
gyman seeking a settlement — Thoughts on the pretensions of 
the advocates of exclusive prelacy. 

In the spring of 1784, the conference sat 
at Baltimore, which was the first I attended. 
There was quite a number of preachers pre- 
sent. Although there were but few on whose 
heads time had begun to snow, yet several of 
them appeared to be way-worn and weather- 
beaten into premature old age. The whole 
number of itinerant preachers in America, at 
that time, was eighty-three ; — stations and 
circuits, sixty-four ; and members in society, 
fourteen thousand nine hundred and eighty- 
eight. I doubt whether there ever has been 
a conference among us, in which an equal 
number could be found, in proportion to the 
whole, so dead to the world, and so gifted 
and enterprising, as were present at the con- 
ference of 1784. They had much to suffer 
at that early period of our history, and espe- 
cially during the revolutionary struggle. 

Among these pioneers, Asbury, by common 



84 MEMOIR Of RET. THOMAS WARE. 

consent, stood first and chief. There was 
something in his person, his eye, his mien, 
and in the music of his voice, which interested 
all who saw and heard him. He possessed 
much natural wit, and was capable of the 
severest satire ; but grace and good sense so 
far predominated that he never descended to 
any thing beneath the dignity of a man and 
a Christian minister. In prayer he excelled. 
Had he been equally eloquent in preaching, 
he would have excited universal admiration as 
a pulpit orator. But, when he was heard for 
the first time, the power and unction with 
which he prayed, would naturally so raise 
the expectation of his auditors, that they 
were liable to be disappointed with his 
preaching ; for, although he always preached 
well, in his sermons he seldom, if ever, reach- 
ed that high and comprehensive flow of 
thought and expression — that expansive and 
appropriate diction— which always character- 
ized his prayers. This may be accounted 
for, in part, at least, from the fact stated by 
the late Rev. Freeborn Garrettson in preach- 
ing his funeral sermon. He prayed," said 
the venerable Garrettson, " the best, and he 
prayed the most of any man I ever knew. 
His long-continued rides prevented his preach- 
ing as often as some others ; but he could find 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 85 



a throne of grace, if not a congregation, upon 
the road." 

Next to him, in the estimation of many, 
stood the placid Tunnell, the philosophical 
Gill, and the pathetic Pedicord. It would be 
difficult to determine to which of these primi- 
tive missionaries, as men of eminent talents 
and usefulness, the preference should be 
given. Tunnell and Gill were both defective 
in physical strength. Pedicord was a man 
of much refined sensibility. They were all the 
children of nature, not of art ; but especially 
Tunnell and Pedicord. A sailor was one day 
passing where Tunnell was preaching. He 
stopped to listen, and was observed to be 
much affected ; and, on meeting with his 
companions after he left, he said, " I have 
been listening to a man who has been dead, 
and in heaven ; but he has returned, and is 
telling the people all about that world." And 
he declared to them he had never been so 
much affected by any thing he had ever seen 
or heard before. True it was, that Tunn ell's 
appearance very much resembled that of 
a dead man; and, when, with his strong 
musical voice, he poured forth a flood of 
heavenly eloquence, as he frequently did, he 
appeared, indeed, as a messenger from the 
invisible world. 



86 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

Gill was eagle-eyed, and, by those whose 
powers of vision were strong like his, he was 
deemed one of a thousand ; but, by the less 
penetrating, his talents could not be fully ap- 
preciated, as he often soared beyond them. 
On this account, Gill was not a favourite 
preacher of mine. But, in conversation, 
which afforded an opportunity for asking 
questions and receiving explanations on deep 
and interesting subjects, I have seldom known 
his equal. Jonathan and David were not 
more tenderly attached to each other than 
were Tunnell and Gill. 

Pedicord was a man of a fine manly form, 
and his countenance indicated intelligence and 
much tender sensibility. His voice was soft 
and remarkably plaintive ; and he possessed 
the rare talent to touch and move his audience 
at once. I have seen the tear start, and the 
head fall, before he had uttered three sen- 
tences, which were generally sententious. Nor 
did he raise expectations to disappoint them. 
Like Tunnell, he arose as he advanced in his 
subject; and if he could not, with him, bind 
his audience with chains, he could draw them 
after him with a silken cord. Never was a man 
more tenderly beloved in our part of the coun- 
try than he ; and if the decision of their rela- 
tive claims devolved on me, I should say there 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 87 

was none like Pedicord, But he was my 
spiritual father. 

Besides these, I might mention perhaps 
twenty others of nearly equal standing ; and 
a number of them, perhaps, the superiors of 
those I have mentioned, in some respects. It 
is a pity that so few of this class of primitive 
American Methodist preachers have left any 
written memorial of themselves and their early 
labours. 

I went to this conference under an impres- 
sion that I ought to go home and endeavour to 
obtain an increase of knowledge and grace 
before I entered wholly into the work ; but 
when I saw so many of the preachers broken 
down, and so great a call for labourers, I yield- 
ed to the advice of my spritual father, and 
consented to take an appointment. I was ap- 
pointed with James O. Cromwell and William 
Lynch, on the Kent circuit, Eastern Shore of 
Maryland. 

Here, as on Dover circuit, I found a great 
number of young people, some of them con- 
nected with the first families ; and I witness- 
ed the pleasure of seeing many of them lead- 
ing lives of piety and adorning the doctrine 
of God our Saviour in all things. Being young 
myself, it pleased the Lord to render me use- 
ful to this class, of whom I admitted more into 



88 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



society than both of my elder brethren. When, 
in 1800, 1 had charge of the whole peninsula, 
I found many journeying toward the holy 
land, who, in sixteen years, had advanced 
from babes in Christ to fathers and mothers 
in Israel. 

In September of this year, (1784,) I was at 
the house of a member of the Protestant Epis- 
copal Church, whose wife was a Methodist. 
In conversation with him he remarked that he 
had some hope of seeing the old church re- 
suscitated. " The people," said he, " are 
gathering about our long-forsaken church ; a 
clergyman direct from England is to preach 
a trial sermon, and will probably be settled 
among us ; come, will you go and hear him ? 
he is said to be very learned." I told him I 
had come to spend the day with him, and. 
should be pleased to go and hear the stran- 
ger. I accordingly went, and, for the first time, 
heard the divine, exclusive, and unchange- 
able right of prelacy preached up, but not, 
as I thought, very skilfully. The parable of 
the good Samaritan was the theme of the dis- 
course. The preacher made the man who 
fell among the thieves to mean Adam ; the 
good Samaritan, Christ ; the inn, the church 
into which bleeding humanity was brought to 
be bound up and healed ; and the tw T o pence 



MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 89 

given to the host, the sacraments of baptism 
and the Lord's supper. 

"But who," said the preacher, "is the host 
— the keeper of the inn, to whom the two 
pence were given? This is the main thing 
to which our attention is called." Here, he 
added, he hesitated not to say, fearless of suc- 
cessful contradiction, that the apostles were 
the prelates of the primitive church ; and that 
diocesan bishops were their successors ; that 
to them appertained the exclusive right of or- 
dination, confirmation, and government ; and 
that this order was unchangeable, having, for 
its author and foundation, Christ and his apos- 
tles. " These things," said he, " being un- 
questionably true, having the seal of the church 
whose infallibility is attested by Christ where 
he says, ' The gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it,' it follows, of course, that fallen 
humanity has never been by Heaven intrusted 
to any claiming to be clergymen, who cannot 
trace their ministerial succession from the 
apostles." 

These assumptions he endeavoured to sup- 
port by quoting some authorities, and pouring 
out a flood of invective upon enthusiasm. " It 
was," he said, " under the magic influence of 
enthusiasm that some men of distinction in the 
Church had given up diocesan episcopacy as 



90 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

apostolic ;" and he admitted that the infatua- 
tion had at times become general, though not 
universal ; "for had it been so," said he, "the 
gates of hell would have prevailed, the decla- 
ration of Christ to the contrary notwithstand- 
ing. John Wesley," he continued, " was the 
prince of enthusiasts. He, with his babblers, 
as Rowland Hill calls them, has filled England 
with enthusiasts. And mark ! no stream can 
rise higher than its source ; consequently the 
preaching of the Methodists can only kindle 
an enthusiastic flame — a mere ignis fatuus — 
in any one." As he thus expressed himself, 
a very interesting, pious female cried out, 
" Glory to God ! if what I now feel be enthu- 
siasm, let me always be an enthusiast !" 

This was a quietus, and threw the clergy- 
man into serious embarrassment, as it was too 
evident not to be perceived by all that this re- 
buke from a lady highly esteemed for her 
accomplishments and piety, was approved by 
the congregation generally as justly merited. 
But he had gone too far to retreat, or even to 
make an apology ; and if he had been dispo- 
sed to do the one or the other, there was still 
a serious difficulty — it was not written. So 
he hesitated before entering upon his third 
head, which was to note the literal meaning 
of the two pence mentioned in the text. But 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



91 



he ventured to proceed, and said, this, in his 
opinion, referred to the support of the clergy, 
which he did think was more in accordance 
with the order of God in England than in 
America. At this allusion his audience evi- 
dently manifested much dissatisfaction. They 
were not in a state of mind, at that juncture, 
to bear such comparisons between the institu- 
tions of the two countries. The union of 
church and state, which was evidently implied 
in the allusion, had no advocates in this coun- 
try, except among the disaffected — and espe- 
cially not here, as the people were imbued 
with the principles of the revolution. He 
could, therefore, hardly have uttered any 
thing more offensive to their feelings. 

After the sermon was over, a conference 
was held with the preacher, which soon term- 
inated. Of what transpired I was informed 
by one of the officers of the church, with 
whom I was acquainted. In narrating the 
facts, he said, " Having been a vestry-man, 
it fell on me to open the business. This I 
did by informing his reverence that I feared 
we should not be able to give him a very libe- 
ral call ; that the Methodists were numerous, 
and the preachers generally acceptable, so that 
if they had been in orders there would hardly 
have been a serious Churchman left He was 



92 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

then requested to name the sum we must pay 
in order to secure his services, which he did. 
He was informed, however, that so large an 
amount could not be raised ; but as he was 
single, and his perquisites would be consider 
able, and as he had said we were perishing 
for lack of knowledge, we expressed a hope 
that he would think of the case, and lay on us 
as light a burden as possible." 

The gentleman then stated that fifty dollars 
a year was all he was willing to pay for the 
support of the gospel, twenty-five to the Me- 
thodists, and twenty-five to the Church ; and 
added, addressing himself to the minister, 
" But for one, sir, I must tell you my mind 
freely. I do not much admire your preach- 
ing, nor your spirit. My wife is a Methodist, 
and she is no more an enthusiast than your 
reverence. Such preaching, sir, will drive 
the people from the Church." At this, the 
preacher appeared agitated, and remarked, 
" I did say many Churchmen in America, I 
feared, were perishing for lack of knowledge ; 
and here we have an evidence of the truth of 
it. Here is a vestry-man who places Method- 
ist preachers, the propagators of enthusiasm, 
on an equality with the divinely authorized 
clergy of the Church of England. From him 
I will receive nothing." " Pray, sir," said 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 93 

another gentleman, interrupting him, " we 
cannot divorce our wives and turn our daugh- 
ters out of doors, because they have joined 
the Methodists. There are but two clergy- 
men on this whole peninsula, and one of 
these is a drunkard. I have been a Church 
warden in another state, and have often said 
I would never leave the Church ; but I had 
much rather hear a Methodist preach than a 
drunken Churchman." " Pardon me, sir," said 
the parson, " do you think I am a drunkard 1 
I perceive you mean to insult me. But we 
will make the matter short. I have told you 
for what I would serve you ; and I now say 
plainly, that you may perish for all me, be- 
fore I will serve you for any thing less." On 
hearing this, they all silently retired, leaving 
the priest intoxicated with passion, as some 
thought, if nothing else. 

This was a singular and extremely impru- 
dent course. Such abuse of the Methodists, 
would, I was quite sure, be very unlikely to 
pave his way for a settlement in that place ; 
for at that early period of their history they 
numbered among them some of the most re- 
spectable citizens in Kent and Queen Anne's 
counties, 

The exclusive rights of prelacy I did not 
believe, but could not deny but that I was 



94 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



uninformed on the subject. They were not the 
Methodists only, however, w r ho were, in the 
estimation of this clergyman, acting without 
a divine commission, but all others also w^ho 
claimed to be ministers without Episcopal ordi- 
nation. The first thing that struck me, on 
having my attention called to this subject, 
was, that without a commission from God it 
would be unreasonable to suppose that any 
man, especially the unlearned, could by 
preaching be instrumental in reforming sin- 
ners. But there were many, very many, on this 
favoured shore, who had been awakened and 
converted to God through the instrumentality 
of the Methodist preachers, and especially 
that of Joseph Cromwell, who, though he 
could not _write his name, preached in the 
demonstration of the Spirit and with an au- 
thority that few could withstand. By his 
labours, thousands, of all classes and conditions 
in society, had been brought into the fold, and 
were walking worthy of their profession. And 
yet, a matter of which I could not help think- 
ing, no Episcopal hands had been laid on his 
head. In a word, the Methodist preachers, 
who were generally young, and knew but 
little of these abstruse questions, or of theo- 
logy generally, except what they learned from 
their Bibles, had been instrumental in waking 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 95 

up a religious concern throughout this whole 
peninsula ; and as the fruits of their labours, 
many had become praying, self-denying, happy 
Christians. 

A second thought that occurred to my mind 
was, if the Episcopal clergy were really the 
only divinely authorized heralds of the gospel, 
then doubless would God put his seal upon 
them, and they would be known to all men 
as his accredited messengers, clothed with his 
panoply. 

But I most marvelled that it should be pre- 
sumed that the American people would tamely 
submit to have their right of private judgment 
in matters of religious faith and practice so per- 
emptorily denied on the ground of the papisti- 
cal infallibility of the Church. The church 
visible, the preacher said, was one and indivi- 
sible, and indefectible as to faith and order ; 
and added, " Who is he that will venture to 
say, that in the visible church man has not 
always had ample security against ignorance 
and error in religion ?" Alas ! thought I, what 
would have been the fate of the w r orld, if the 
Jewish church had been consulted on the 
Messiahship of Christ, in the days of his ad- 
vent? And what better guarantee had men in 
the days of Luther from the Latin Church? 

While my mind was exercised on this sub- 



96 MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 

ject, to which it had been directed by the cir- 
cumstances already named, I was called, ac- 
cording to the custom of the place, to preach 
a funeral sermon. The deceased was a per- 
son of large possessions, and extensive fam- 
ily connections, some of whom were Method- 
ists. These wished me to preach ; but others 
expressed a preference for Dr. S., the Epis- 
copal clergyman. My wish was, that he 
should preach, for I knew not how to preach 
the funeral sermon of a man who was allowed 
to be one of the most wicked men in that part 
of the country. He was a pilot ; and in a 
gust of passion, while boisterously pouring 
forth a volley of curses against the sailors for 
not managing the ship to his mind, he fell 
upon the deck in an apoplectic fit, and spoke 
no more. Understanding that the doctor 
would be there, and knowing that he would 
preach if he had the opportunity, I delayed, 
that he might commence. This he did ; and 
I arrived just in time to hear his text, which 
was, singular as it might seem for the occasion, 
" I have kept the faith.''' But it answered his 
purpose. With the general character and 
habits of the man the doctor was perfectly 
familiar, having often been his guest, and, in 
fact, his bowl companion. But it was his 
faith, rather than his practice, which he was 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 97 

about to commend ; and from what he said it 
would seem that he considered the terms 
Churchman and Christian to be synonymous, 
and that nothing could make a man, who had 
been baptized by a duly authorized clergy- 
man a son of perdition, but apostacy from the 
Church. At least the manner in which he im- 
proved the occasion was calculated so to im- 
press the minds of his hearers. 

He acknowledged that his parishioner had 
been a man of pleasure ; that he had been 
employed in a sea-faring life ; and, sailor-like, 
was addicted to the use of expletives, and 
excess of wine. " But he had many fine traits 
of character. He had been true to his coun- 
try ; was complete master of his calling, and 
always faithful to his employers ; and, what 
was best of all, he was sound in his religious 
theory, and might be said, in the language of 
the text, to have ' kept the faith.' Nothing," 
said he, " could induce him to forsake the 
Church into whose bosom he had been receiv- 
ed by baptism, while many of his connections 
who outshone him in morals have shown them- 
selves less tenacious of the faith once deliver- 
ed to the church than he. The doctrines, the 
liturgy, and the apostolic government, he held 
fast without wavering; and if in practical 
piety he came short, yet who will venture to 
5 



98 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

say he is not at rest, if in his last moments 
he lifted a penitent, suppliant eye to Heaven!" 
The doctor, who well knew how he stood in 
the public estimation, and sometimes lament- 
ed his too great weakness in the use of wine, 
by a rather delicate reference to himself, en- 
treated his hearers not to do as he sometimes 
did, but as he always said. This was an 
illustration of the principles of the creed and 
moral code which had been to me matter of 
much reflection, that tended greatly to settle 
my mind respecting them. It did appear that, 
in his view, there was no hell for orthodox 
diocesan Episcopalians, whatever else they 
might be. 

Nor was I alone in this. Conversing not 
long after with an intelligent Churchman re- 
specting the doctor's sermon, he said, " If he 
did not send the pilot to heaven by the way 
of purgatory, it was because he was not en- 
tirely sound in the faith — he is papistical, 
though not a papist outright ; he is what we 
call a high Churchman, and is in the habit, 
especially when a little excited with wine, of 
preaching all Churchmen to heaven, and of de- 
nying the right to any man to preach, baptize, 
or bury the dead, who has not a regular Epis- 
copal ordination. But there are few Church- 
men in this country, or even in England, who 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 99 

hold principles so nearly allied to popish infalli- 
bility," This gentleman was an Englishman, 
in orders, but had no parish ; and he seemed 
to think himself scandalized by the sermon. 
He knew Mr. Wesley well, and had once 
heartily despised him, not as a fanatic, but 
as the most ambitious man, in his opinion, on 
the earth. But his views respecting him ha<J 
been changed, and he said he then esteemed 
him as one of the greatest and best men in 
England ; that he had preached, written, and 
lived down all the violent opposition which 
had been raised against him ; and that he now 
had more of the confidence, love, and admi- 
ration of the people in England than any other 
man. He made some other remarks expres- 
sive of his disapprobation of the high Church 
notions which the doctor had shown so much 
zeal to vindicate, and he said the claim of 
succession was generally acknowledged to be 
a fiction. 

This conversation, in connection with what 
had previously transpired, made a deep and 
lasting impression on my mind. While re- 
flecting on the subject, I opened my Bible on 
the following passage : " And Jesus came, and 
spoke unto them, saying, All power is given 
unto me in heaven and earth," Matt, xxviii, 18. 
These words were spoken to the disciples on 



100 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



their receiving the commission of their Master 
to go and evangelize the world. On reading 
them, I said to myself, " How explicit — how 
sublime are these terms ! The reading of them 
inspires me with veneration and awe. Cer- 
tainly here, if anywhere, are we to look for 
the exclusive rights of prelacy. But are they 
here ? No ; — nor have the apostles informed 
us that any such rights as are thus arrogated 
were taught among the private instructions 
they received from their Master." To me, then, 
it appeared evident, that if diocesan episcopa- 
cy be not a fable, it can be nothing more than 
a human institution. Moreover, if bishops 
and presbyters be not the same order, I could 
not conceive how the terms could be con- 
vertibly used by the apostles, as all who read 
the New Testament know they are. Here 
all my agitation and solicitude on the subject 
of succession subsided. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



101 



CHAPTER VII. 

Dr. Coke arrives in America — Meets Mr. Asbury at Judge 
Barrett's, in Delaware — A conference called to meet in Balti- 
more on Christmas, hence denominated the Christmas con- 
ference — Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church — 
Beneficial effects of church privileges on the societies — Re- 
marks on Dr. Coke and his views of his brethren in America, 
particularly Mr. Asbury — Reflections on the state of the socie- 
ties before their organization into a church — Mr. Asbury's 
influence in preserving peace among them — Views entertained 
by the Christmas conference on the subject of education — 
Abingdon college. 

The Methodist Episcopal Church in the 
United States was organized in 1784, soon 
after the close of the revolution. It was not 
practicable during the war for Mr. Wesley, 
the father and founder of the Methodist so- 
cieties, to furnish an organization suited to 
our necessities. But after its termination, 
Mr. Asbury, who lived in the feelings and pos- 
sessed the entire confidence of both preachers 
and people, according to their general wish 
and expectation, made application to Mr. 
Wesley in behalf of the American societies, 
and he resolved without delay to send over 
Dr. Coke, whom he first set apart by the im- 
position of hands to the ofBce of superin- 
tendent, with instructions to carry his plan 
into effect. He furnished the doctor with 



102 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



forms of ordination for deacons, elders, and 
superintendents ; and appointed him, jointly 
with Mr. Asbury, to preside over the Methodist 
family in America. 

When Dr. Coke arrived in America he first 
saw Mr. Asbury at Judge Barrett's, (Barrett's 
Chapel,) in the state of Delaware, and exhi- 
bited to him his credentials. Mr. Asbury 
rejoiced for the consolation of being able to 
hope that relief would be afforded to the so- 
cieties, but said, " Doctor, we will call the 
preachers together, and their voice shall be to 
me the voice of God." It was accordingly 
agreed to have a conference, to meet in Balti- 
more, on the ensuing Christmas. 

Nearly fifty years have now elapsed since 
the Christmas conference ; and I have a thou- 
sand times looked back to the memorable era 
with pleasurable emotions. I have often said 
it was the most solemn convocation I ever 
saw. I might have said, for many reasons, it 
was sublime. During the whole time of our 
being together in the transaction of business 
of the utmost magnitude, there was not, I 
verily believe, on the conference floor or in 
private, an unkind word spoken, or an unbro- 
therly emotion felt. Christian love predomi- 
nated; and, under its influence, we "kindly 
thought and sweetly spoke the same," 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 103 



The annual meetings of the preachers, sent, 
as they hold themselves to be, to declare in 
the name of the Almighty Jesus terms of 
peace between the offended Majesty of heaven 
and guilty man, were to them occurrences of 
interesting import. The privilege of seeing 
each other, after labouring and suffering re- 
proach in distant portions of the Lord's vine- 
yard, and of hearing the glad tidings which 
they expected to hear on such occasions of 
what God was doing through their instrumen- 
tality, encouraged their hearts every step they 
took in their long and wearisome journeys, 
and served as a cordial to their spirits. But 
never before had they met on so important 
and solemn an occasion as this. Fifteen years 
had passed away since Boardman and Pillmoor 
arrived in America, in the character of itine- 
rants, under the direction of Mr. Wesley.' 
This was the fifteenth conference. During 
all that time, those of us who would dedicate 
our infant offspring to the Lord by baptism, 
or would ourselves receive the holy sacrament, 
must go for these sacred rites to such as knew 
us not, and were entirely mistaken respecting 
our character. The charge preferred against 
us was not hypocrisy, but enthusiasm. Our 
opposers did not blame us for not living up to 
our profession outwardly, but for professing 



104 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

too much — more than is the privilege of man 
in this life, in speaking with Christian confi- 
dence of the knowledge of a present salvation 
by the forgiveness of sins and the witness of 
the Spirit. There were, indeed, a few who 
harmonized with us in sentiment and in feel- 
ing. But, in the general estimation, we were 
the veriest enthusiasts the world ever saw. 

Humiliating indeed was our condition. Not 
a man in holy orders among us ; and against 
us formidable combinations were formed, not 
so much at first among the laity as among the 
clergy. But being denounced from the pulpit 
as illiterate, unsound in our principles, and 
enthusiastic in our spirit and practice — in a 
word, every way incompetent, and only to be 
despised — the multitude, men and women, 
w 7 ere imboldened to attack us ; and it was 
often matter of diversion to witness how much 
they appeared to feel their own superiority. 

All these things, however, we could have 
borne without concern, as the work of God 
was prospering, and the societies increasing 
more rapidly than any other denomination in 
I the country; but the want of orders had a 
tendency to paralyze our efforts. Many, ] 
very many, who had been brought to the / 
knowledge of God through our instrumentality 
were kept from uniting with us because we 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 105 

could not administer to them all the or- 
dinances. 

At the Christmas conference we met to 
congratulate each other, and to praise the 
Lord that he had disposed the mind of our 
excellent Wesley to renounce the fable of 
uninterrupted succession, and prepare the way 
for furnishing us with the long-desired privi- 
leges we were thenceforward expecting to 
enjoy. The announcement of the plan de- 
vised by him for our organization as a church 
filled us with solemn delight. It answered to 
what we did suppose, during our labours and 
privations, we had reason to expect our God 
would do for us ; for in the integrity of our 
hearts we verily believed his design in raising 
up the preachers called Methodists, in this 
country, was to reform the continent, and 
spread scriptural holiness through these lands ; 
and we accordingly looked to be endued, in 
due time, with all the panoply of God. We, 
therefore, according to the best of our know- 
ledge, received and followed the advice of 
Mr. Wesley, as stated in our form of Disci- 
pline. 

After Mr. Wesley's letter, declaring his ap- 
pointment of Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury joint 
superintendents over the Methodists in Ame- 
rica, had been read, analyzed, and cordially 
5* 



106 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



approved by the conference, the question 
arose, " What name or title shall we take ?" 
I thought to myself, I shall be satisfied that 
we be denominated, The Methodist Church, 
and so whispered to a brother sitting near me. 
But one proposed, I think it was John Dick- 
ens, that we should adopt the title of Method- 
ist Episcopal Church. Mr. Dickens was, 
in the estimation of his brethren, a man of 
sound sense and sterling piety ; and there 
were few men on the conference floor heard 
with greater deference than he. Most of the 
preachers had been brought up in what was 
called, "The Church of England f and, all 
agreeing that the plan of general superintend- 
ence, which had been adopted, was a species 
of episcopacy, the motion on Mr. Dickens' 
suggestion was carried without, I think, a 
dissenting voice. There was not, to my re- 
collection, the least agitation on the question. 
Had the conference indulged a suspicion that ; 
I the name they adopted would be, in the least 



degree, offensive to the views or feelings of 
Mr. Wesley, they would have abandoned it at 1 
once ; for the name of Mr. Wesley was inex- 
pressibly dear to the Christmas conference, 
and especially to Mr. Asbury and Dr. Coke. 

After our organization, we proceeded to 
elect a sufficient number of elders to visit the 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 107 

quarterly meetings, and administer the ordi- 
nances * and this it was which gave rise to 
the office of presiding elders among us. 

From what I have said, it w T ill be under- 
stood that, when the Methodist Episcopal 
Church was organized, I w T as present. But, 
as I was little more than a spectator of the 
interesting transactions of the Christmas con- 
ference, I shall take the liberty to speak of 
the character of the preachers who consti- 
tuted that body, as if not numbered among 
them. 

In practical wisdom they appeared to me to 
excel ; and, although few of them affected 
the scholar, yet they prized learning as a de- 
sirable accomplishment. Some of them were 
acquainted with the learned languages ; and 
most of them were not deficient in general 
and polite literature. But what eminently 
distinguished them as a body of Christian 
ministers was, that they possessed, in a high 
degree, the happy art of winning souls. In 
preaching and in debate they were workmen 
who needed not to be ashamed ; and they 
made wise and useful improvement of the 
knowledge they possessed, and the talents 
God had given them. Hence the high esti- 
mation in which they held the Bible. Many 
of them were in the habit of reading it regu- 



108 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

larly on their knees ; and some made it a 
point to read it once through every year in 
that attitude. We may, therefore, venture 
to say, that few men, in any age of the 
church, knew better how to estimate the sum 
of good which Heaven kindly wills to man, 
and few have been so successful in recom- 
mending the Bible and Bible religion to their 
fellow-men. 

Dr. Coke, on his w T ay to the Christmas con- 
ference, passed through our circuit. I met 
him at Colonel Hopper's, in Queen Anne's 
county, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At 
first, I was not at all pleased with his appear- 
ance. His stature, complexion, and voice, re- 
sembled those of a woman rather than those of 
a man ; and his manners were too courtly for 
me. So unlike was he to the grave, and, as I 
conceived, apostolic Mr. Asbury, that his ap- 
pearance did not prepossess me favourably. 
He had several appointments in the circuit, to 
which I conducted him ; and, before we part- 
ed, I saw so many things to admire in him 
that I no longer marvelled at his being select- 
ed by Mr. Wesley to serve us in the capaci- 
ty of a superintendent. In public, he was 
generally admired ; and, in private, he was 
very communicative and edifying. 

At one time, in a large circle, he expressed 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 109 



himself in substance as follows : — " I am 
charmed by the spirit of my American bre- 
thren. Their love to Mr. Wesley is not sur- 
passed by that of their brethren in Europe. 
It is founded on the excellence — the divinity 
— of the religion which he has been the in- 
strument of reviving, and which has shed its 
benign influence on this land of freedom. I 
see in both preachers and people a resolution 
to venture on any bold act of duty, when 
called to practise piety before the ungodly, 
and to refuse compliance with fashionable 
vice. I see," continued he, with a counte- 
nance glowing with delight, " a great and 
effectual door opened for the promulgation of 
Methodism in America, whose institutions I 
greatly admire, and whose prosperity I no less 
wish than I do that of the land which gave me 
birth. In the presence of brother Asbury I feel 
myself a child. He is, in my estimation, the 
most apostolic man I ever saw, except Mr. 
Wesley." 

These remarks of Dr. Coke made an im- 
pression on my mind not soon to be forgotten. 
He was the best speaker in a private circle or 
on the conference floor I ever heard. But his 
voice was too weak to command with ease a 
very large audience. Yet this he could 
sometimes do ; and, when he succeeded in it, 



1 ] MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



his preaching was very impressive. Some of 
the first scholars in the country have been 
heard to say, that Dr. Coke spoke the purest 
English of any man they ever heard. His, 
fine classical taste did not raise him, in his 
own estimation, above the weakest of his 
brethren. To them he paid the kindest at- 
tentions ; and the most diffident and retiring 
among them, after being a short time in his 
company, were not only perfectly at ease, but 
happy at finding themselves associated with a 
brother who had learned to esteem others 
better than himself. 

In reflecting upon the condition of the Me- 
thodist societies in America before the Christ- 
mas conference, I can only wonder at the pri- 
vations to which they submitted for so long a 
time, out of reverence for Mr. Wesley. He 
had said he would never forsake the Church 
in which he was brought up ; and the Method- 
ists felt for him a tie of affection stronger than 
the ties of blood. Hence they continued to 
suffer on, hoping for relief when the war 
should terminate. 

The struggle, however, continued so long 
that there is reason to believe, if it had not 
been for the influence of Mr. Asbury, the so- 
cieties in America would have assumed the 
character of an independent church, and had 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



Ill 



r the ordinances of God duly administered to 
them. To men of thought it seemed "unrea- 
sonable and unchristianlike that preachers 
who had grown gray in preaching the word, 
and succeeded in gathering a numerous peo- 
ple to the Lord, should refrain from adminis- 
tering to them the ordinances. Nor was the 
influence of Mr. Asbury, great as it was, 
sufficient to restrain the societies and keep 
them in that condition, much longer. This I 
learned the first conference I attended. 

I would not insinuate that, in this serious 
business, Mr. Asbury exerted any undue in- 
fluence, or misapplied his talents. It was 
best, probably, that the Methodists in this- 
country should remain as they w r ere, until 
Mr. "Wesley felt himself at liberty to exercise 
the right, which he unquestionably had, to 
ordain preachers for them. Neither Mr. 
Asbury, nor , any of his coadjutors, believed 
in the divjne, exclusive rights of prelacy, any 
more than they believed in tran substantiation ; 
but they did believe that a divine interposi- 
tion was manifest in the rise and spread of 
Methodism, and that Mr. Wesley was an ex- 
traordinary man, who was the chief instru- 
ment in the hand of God in this work. They 
therefore looked up to him with deference 
and respect, and cherished a fond hope that, 



112 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



by his counsel and instruction, means would 
be devised to invest them with all the privi- 
leges of a church, in a way to continue the 
Methodists in both countries one family. This 
they now realized, much to their satisfaction. 

I have said the preachers who composed 
the Christmas conference did hold human 
learning to be a desirable accomplishment. 
They knew, indeed, that learning and piety 
had no necessary connection, from the fact that 
there have been some eminent scholars, whose 
lives have evinced that they were far from 
being pious, and there have been many pious 
souls who have made no pretensions to hu- 
man learning. Yet, when learning and piety 
are united, they are mutually beneficial in 
promoting the best interests of man. Such 
views prevailed among the preachers at that 
early period of our history. In proof of this, 
it may be sufficient to mention that, at the 
Christmas conference, they passed a resolu- 
tion forthwith to erect a college, or public 
school, and to publish a plan of it immediate- 
ly after the conference should adjourn. 

The design was, to board and educate, 
and, if the finances would permit, clothe the 
sons of the travelling preachers, and poor or- 
phans ; and to provide a seminary, under the 
patronage of the church, for the education of 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 113 

the children of our friends, where religion 
and learning might go hand in hand — where 
the means of instruction might be enjoyed 
by the young, without endangering their 
moral and religious principles through expo- 
sure to those temptations which were too 
common at most public schools. They also 
contemplated the benefit of those who might 
give evidence of being called to preach the 
gospel, but be so destitute of literary qualifi- 
cations as to need some aid in this respect, 
before entering wholly into the work. In 
conformity with this resolution, a college was 
shortly after erected at Abingdon, Maryland ; 
but it was soon after burned down. This was 
supposed to be the work of an incendiary. 
But so intent were the Methodists upon hav- 
ing a public school, that a suitable house was 
soon after purchased for that purpose in Bal- 
timore. This also was, in a little time, wrap- 
ped in flames and destroyed! I could notj 
believe, as some did, that these occurrences 
were judicial visitations. They were pro- 
duced by incendiaries, and not the work of 
the beneficent Parent of the human family. 
And yet we trace the providence of God in 
them. He suffered wicked men to do us 
wrong, and we w r ere enabled to trust in him, 
and throw ourselves upon the veracity of his 



114 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



word, that all things work together for good 
to them that love him. But we would not 
indulge the impious thought, that bad men 
were impelled by him to burn our literary 
institutions, because he did not deem it proper, 
by a miracle, to protect us, as he protected 
Abraham and his family, when, small and few 
as we were, they sojourned among strangers 
and enemies. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

From the Christmas conference Mr. Ware returns to the 
peninsula — Dr. Coke visits that section — Multitudes flock to 
hear the word, receive the sacrament, and get their children 
baptized — Mr. Ware's labours interrupted by sickness — He 
partially recovers and resolves to return home — Is induced to 
change his course by an extraordinary manifestation of di- 
vine influence at a meeting he attended, just about the time he 
had made arrangements to leave — Has a second attack — Did 
not attend conference, and wrote to be discontinued for at least 
one year — Was, however, continued, and appointed to Salem 
circuit — Had to contend with error — Saw many of his relatives 
brought into the church — Account of the introduction of Me- 
thodism into this section — Anecdote of Capt. Sears — Prosperi- 
ty of the work — Reflections on the benefits of having the ordi- 
nances — Extension of the work — Mr. Ware is sent to Long 
Island, N. Y. — Crosses over on the main shore and visits New- 
Rochelle, Bedford, and Peekskill — Detained at a public house 
— His detention proves a blessing to the landlord and his wife. 

From the Christmas conference I returned 
to the peninsula, in every part of which Me- 
thodism was flourishing, and the work of the 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 115 

Lord gloriously prospering in our hands. The 
administration of the ordinances at our quar- 
terly meetings was singularly owned of God. 
Vast multitudes attended, and the power of 
the Lord was present to wound and to heal. 
The w T hole peninsula seemed moved ; and the 
people, in multitudes, flocked to hear Dr. 
Coke, who returned with us, and spent soma 
time on this favoured shore. Never did I] 
see any person who seemed to enjoy himself 
better than he did, while thousands pressed 
to him to have their children dedicated to the 
Lord by baptism, and to receive themselves 
the holy supper at his hands. Daily acces 
I sions were made to the church. 

For a time I enjoyed myself well in this 
work. I preached with greater ease than 
formerly, for the hearts of the people seemed 
to be open to receive the word ; and our 
class-meetings were little bethels to us. But 
I w T as suddenly attacked with a kidney com- 
plaint, that brought me near the door of death. 

My sufferings were most excruciating. After 
the first paroxysm was over, doubts in swift 
succession arose in my mind with respect to 
my call to the ministry ; and, being informed 
that my spiritual father, the respected Pedi- 
cord, was dead, I felt a wdsh, if it w T ere the 
will of God, that I might follow him. 



116 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

After passing through many sore conflicts 
relative to my duty with respect to preaching, 
I yielded to a belief that I might safely aban- 
don for the present an itinerant life, if not the 
ministry. Under these impressions I went on 
to an appointment where few usually attend- 
ed, with an intention, if the people came out, 
to give them a word of exhortation ; and then 
write to the conference, which was soon to 
hold its session, not to depend on me to fill an 
appointment for at least one year, and direct 
my course toward home. 

When I came in sight of the place I saw a 
number of carriages, and a large concourse of 
people collected ; and I trembled at the sight. 
My watch told me it was past the time to 
commence, and I was entirely unprepared to 
meet the congregation. In this condition I 
said to myself, "What shall I do? — I must 
commence." I finally determined that I would 
read the chapter on which I first opened my 
Testament, and select a passage from it ; and, 
if I were confounded before the people, I 
would confess I had been mistaken in my call. 

The chapter on which I opened was the six- 
teenth of the Acts of the Apostles. This read, 
I selected for a text the latter clause of the 
30th verse, " What must I do to be saved V 
After announcing these words I proceeded in 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 117 

the following strain : — " Since the world began 
there w^as never a proposition by man to man 
of greater import than that which the Philip- 
pian jailer made to Paul and Silas in the words 
of our text. He was doubtless a sinner, and 
saw himself in danger ; and he feared — fear- 
ed what 1 Not temporal, but eternal, death ! 
He believed that something must be done to 
escape it, and that the apostles could tell him 
what to do. 

" There is, we presume to say, in all men, 
at times, a conviction that they are in danger 
of eternal destruction, that something must be 
done to ensure their salvation, and that the mi- 
nisters of the gospel can tell them what that 
something is. But alas ! for you who are 
here to-day (pardon my tears !*) I feel incom- 
petent to answer the anxious inquiry which I 
perceive many are disposed to make about 
their salvation. Incompetent did I say? For- 
give me ! I will recall it. I do know what 
you may do — what you must do — what I 
begin to think, blessed be God, some of you 
will do — to be saved — -will do and be saved, 
this very day. True, I cannot answer this 
inquiry in the style and manner I could wish. 
But is this a just cause for tears ? No, I will 
dry them up, and press you with all my soul 

* These now began to flow freely. 



118 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that you 
may be saved. If Paul himself were here, 
he would do the same." 

This simple address was owned of God in 
deeply affecting the hearers. Tears flowed 
plentifully from the eyes of many ; and all in 
the congregation were greatly moved. What 
a sudden transition ! When I stood up, a gloom 
like the darkness of midnight rested upon me. 
Now not a vestige of a cloud remained. I 
continued by remarking : — 

"Our text is the language of a true peni- 
tent. All such are concerned to know what 
they must do to be saved, 

1. From ignorance and error in religion ; 

2. From the tyranny of sin ; 

3. From the curse of God's violated law ; 

4. From the damnation of hell." 

To all which I replied by directing the 
humble penitent to believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, that is, to venture on him for wisdom, 
strength, absolution, and purity of heart and 
life. When I was done, many desired the 
privilege of being present in the class-meet- 
ing, which was granted ; and most of those 
who remained united with the church on pro- 
bation. 

I now went on cheerfully for a time. But 
it was not long before I was attacked by my 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 119 



old complaint ; and as my physician did not 
understand it, and doctored me for another, I 
was again, to appearance, brought near the 
gate of death. An elderly gentleman, how- 
ever, providentially fell in where I was, and 
after some inquiry, informed me of the nature 
and seat of my disease. He recommended 
the free use of parsley (apium) tea, which I 
drank freely, and in about twelve hours it gave 
me signal relief. 

In the spring of 1785, I did not attend the 
conference, but went home, and wrote 'to Mr. 
Asbury, declining to take an appointment for 
at least one year, on account of loss of health. 
I was, however, appointed to Salem circuit, 
with William Phoebus and Robert Sparks.* 

Here we had to contend with high-toned 
Calvinism on one hand, and mysticism on the 
other. But the Lord gave us some fruit of 
our labours, and many cheering hopes that 
the moral waste we were traversing by long 
and dreary rides would one day bud and blos- 
som as the rose. 

"While on this circuit I had the pleasure of 
seeing many of my near relatives brought to 
the knowledge of God, and received into the 
church. Among these were my eldest and 

* The territory contained in this circuit is now occupied by 
more than half a score of preachers. 



120 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

youngest sisters. The latter was from a child 
admired for the good natural qualities of her 
mind, and for her amiable disposition. In her, 
grace shone with peculiar brilliancy. She 
was eminently gifted in prayer, so much so 
that many of the preachers remarked they 
had seldom known her equal. Her husband 
was also an amiable and interesting man. It 
was through her influence that he was brought 
to embrace religion; and their house was long 
a pleasant home for the preachers.* 

* This amiable man, being in feeble health, was advised by 
his physician to take new milk and sugar in a little brandy. 
By following this prescription he contracted a love for strong 
drink, and lost not only his religious enjoyment and character, 
but also his property and his little remaining health. He was 
greatly pitied, and the fullest confidence was placed in his inte- 
grity to the last ; and there was some hope in his death. He 
was ardently attached to his pious wife ; and in his last hours 
he could not bear her out of his sight a moment, but listened 
with deep interest to her encouraging assurances that God 
would receive the returning penitent, and was melted to tears 
while she offered up her ardent prayers in his behalf. 

Ah, my sister, how often have I mingled my tears with thine, 
on account of this once amiable man, ensnared and overcome 
by the foul destroyer ! He was lost to thee and to thy little 
ones, but, we trust, not eternally lost ! Thou, my best beloved 
sister, hast ceased to weep and to suffer. Thou art for ever at 
rest; and thy children, the objects of thy tenderest solicitude 
when thou wast about to leave them orphans, have been pro- 
vided for by Him who feeds the ravens, and, with one exception, 
are following thee in wisdom's ways ; and that one, we hope, 
will be given thee in answer to a pious mother's prayers, long 
since registered on high ! 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 121 

This excellent woman was not only my 
natural sister, but my spiritual child. After I 
knew r the blessedness of believing, I travelled 
sixty miles to see her and tell her what the 
Lord had done for me. During our first inter- 
view she became convinced of the necessity 
of religion ; and she never after rested until 
she was brought to enjoy it. 

Methodism had found its way into this sec- 
tion before us. The war which had just ter- 
minated had raged mostly in the upper part of 
New- Jersey ; but here its effects were less sen- 
sibly felt. Many parts of Cumberland and 
Cape May were but thinly inhabited ; and the 
inhabitants were generally favourable to the 
cause of the revolution. When the state of 
things in West Jersey, in consequence of its 
becoming the seat of war, rendered it next 
to impossible for the preachers to labour 
longer there, they turned their attention to the 
west ; and one of them visited Cumberland 
and Cape May.* His manner was, to let his 
horse take his own course, and, on coming to a 
house, to inform the family that he had come to 
warn them and the people of their neighbour- 
hood to prepare to meet their God ; and also 
to direct them to notify their neighbours that 

* We learn from Mr. Ware that the name of this preacher 
was James. — Editor. 

6 



122 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

on such a day one would, by divine permis- 
sion, be there to deliver a message from God 
to them, noting his appointment in a book 
kept for that purpose ; and then, if he found 
they were not offended, to sing and pray with 
them, and depart. Some families were much 
affected, and seemed to hold themselves bound 
to do as he directed. Others told him he need 
give himself no farther trouble, for they would 
neither invite their neighbours, nor open their 
doors to receive him if he came. 

This course soon occasioned an excitement 
and alarm through many parts. Some seem- 
ed to think him a messenger from the invisi- 
ble world. Others said, " He is mad." Many, 
however, gave out the appointments as direct- 
ed; and when the time came, he would be 
sure to be there. By these means the minds 
of the people were stirred up, and many were 
awakened. While thus labouring to sow the 
seed of the gospel, he came one evening to 
the house of Captain Sears, and having a de- 
sire to put up for the night, made application 
to the captain accordingly. Captain S. was 
then in the yard, surrounded by a number of 
harking dogs, which kept up such a noise 
that he could not at first hear what the preach- 
er said. At this, the captain became very 
angry, and stormed boisterously at them, call- 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 123 



ing them many hard names, for which the 
preacher reproved him. When they became 
silent so that he could be distinctly heard, he 
renewed his request to stay over night. The 
captain paused a long time, looking steadily 
at him, and then said, " I hate to let you stay 
the worst of any man I ever saw ; but as I 
never refused a stranger a night's lodging in 
all my life, you may alight." 

Soon after entering the house, he requested 
a private room where he might retire. The 
family were curious to know for what purpose 
he retired, and contrived to ascertain, when it 
was found that he was on his knees. After 
continuing a long time in secret devotion, he 
came into the parlour and found supper pre- 
pared. Captain Sears seated himself at table, 
and invited his guest to come and partake with 
him. He came to the table, and said, " With 
your permission, captain, I will ask the bless- 
ing of God upon our food before we partake 
to which the captain assented. 

During the evening the preacher had occa- 
sion to reprove his host several times. In a 
few days the captain attended a military 
parade ; and his men, having heard that the 
man who had made so much noise in the 
country had spent a night with him, inquired 
of him what he thought of this singular per* 



124 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



son. " Do you ask what I think of the stran- 
ger?" said he, "I know he is a man of God." 
"Pray how do you know that, captain?" in- 
quired some. "How do I know it?" he replied. 
" I will tell you honestly — the devil trembled 
in me at his reproofs." And so it was. The evil 
spirit found no place to remain in his heart. * 
By such means the work was commenced in 
this region, and spread among the people. 

The year 1785 passed away much more 
pleasantly than I expected. My health was 
much improved ; and the gloom of mind which 
had nearly driven me from the itinerant ranks 
now seldom troubled me. The presiding 
elder appointed to attend the quarterly meet- 
ings in Jersey was an exceedingly popular 
man, and his presence gave a consequence to 
these meetings which left no doubt on our 
minds of the advantage of having men in holy 
orders among us ; and we praised God for 
the providence which had brought about this 
new order of things, and established us as a 
branch of his militant church. Two years 
had now elapsed since the organization of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in America, 

* I have spent many a comfortable night under the hospitable 
roof of Captain Sears. He lived long an example of piety — the 
stranger's host and comforter, and especially the preacher's 
friend. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



125 



during which time our harmony continued the 
same as it was before, while our labour had 
been crowned with much greater success, in 
consequence of having had the ordinances of 
God duly administered among us. In these 
two years we admitted thirty-four preachers, 
and had an accession of three thousand eight 
hundred and three members. "We also greatly 
enlarged our borders, extending our labours 
to Georgia at the south, and the great valley 
of the Mississippi at the west. 

In 1786 my field of labour was Long Island, 
in the state of New-York. But I did not 
confine myself to the Island. With the con- 
sent of my presiding elder, a local brother 
was employed to take my appointments, and 
I visited New-Rochelle, across the sound, 
Iwenty-five miles above New- York. A class 1 
had been formed in this place previously to 
the taking of New-York by the British. But 
at this time there was not a Methodist on the 
east side of the Hudson, above New- York. ^ 

From New-Rochelle I went up to Bedford 
and Peekskill. In every place where I went 
the people flocked to hear the word ; and I 
was treated, generally, w T ith great kindness. 
At Croton, Lieut. Governor Van Courtland and 
lady took me to their house, and charmed me 
with their Christian courtesy and hospitality. 



126 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

At Bedford, on Christmas day, I dwelt 
largely on the universality of the atonement, 
with which subject I felt deeply affected my- 
self, as the people also appeared to be. When 
I was through, a Calvinist minister stood up 
in the congregation and accused me of preach- 
ing false doctrine. The sum of his argument 
was, " If Christ died for all, then must all be 
saved ; but we know some are lost, therefore 
he did not die for all." It was an unfortunate 
time for him to attack the doctrine in the 
manner he did, as the feelings of the people 
were evidently enlisted in favour of it while I 
was endeavouring to illustrate and enforce it 
with tears. They were therefore on my side. 

Before the minister sat down, he requested 
the people not to let any thing he had said so 
prejudice their minds against the young man 
as to call in question his piety. Here he was 
interrupted by an elderly man, who arose and 

said, " I am surprised, Mr. H s, that you 

have so little discernment. What you have 
said, instead of exciting our prejudice against 
our young friend, who has preached the truth to 
us, has, on the contrary, filled us with disgust 
against yourself. There is not a person pre- 
sent but must condemn your spirit ; and very 
few, I hope, who do not despise the sentiments 
you have advanced. If there be one here 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 127 

who approves of the rude attack you have 
made upon this youth and stranger among us, 
let him get up and defend you." At this sharp 
rebuke, Mr. H. arose to defend himself ; but 
the people manifested their unwillingness to 
hear him, by rising up and beginning to talk. 
A Mr. Eames then, in the audience of the 
people, invited me to go with him and make 
his house my home ; and to preach the same 
doctrine to his neighbours. I accepted of this 
kind invitation, and went. 

When we arrived at Mr. Eames' house, he 
introduced me to his wife as a Methodist 
preacher, and said, "You know I told you 
God would send the Methodist preachers 
among us, when I dreamed that I saw Mr. 
Wesley riding through the country with his 
Bible open in his hand." After spending a 
short time with this pious and interesting 
family, during which I preached repeatedly 
and formed a class, I set out on my return to 
New-Rochelle, but was overtaken by one of 
the most dreadful snow-storms I ever wit- 
nessed. I was accordingly driven to the 
necessity of putting up at an inn, where I was 
detained for a week. The landlady was ten- 
derly impressed the first time I spoke to her 
on the subject of religion ; but the inn-keeper 
himself, though civil, appeared to be out of 



128 



MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 



my reach. Both of them were very fond of 
singing ; and as my voice was good, they 
seemed much delighted with some spiritual 
songs which I sung for them. On the third 
night of this tremendous storm, while sitting 
around the cheerful fire, listening to the howl- 
ing of the wind, and the beating of snow and 
hail against the windows, as if resolved on a 
forcible entry, I perceived my host and hostess 
were pensive ; so I sung them one of my fa- 
vourite pieces, with which they were much 
affected. I then kneeled down to pray ; and 
they, for the first time, fell upon their knees. 
After prayer, I retired, leaving them both in 
tears. He afterward, during my stay, made 
many efforts to resume his former gayety ; but 
his vivacity was gone.* 

* After thirty years I was again appointed to Long Island, 
where my host visited me. On meeting me, he said, " Father 
Ware, I am happy to see you once more. Have you forgotten 
the snow-storm which brought you and salvation to my house V 1 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 129 



CHAPTER IX. 

In 1787 Dr. Coke again visits this country — Gives dissatis- 
faction to some of the preachers by changing the conference — 
Mr. Whatcoat accompanies Dr. Coke, as a superintendent, ap- 
pointed by Mr. Wesley — Some uneasiness about the manner of 
doing business in the conference — Feelings of respect enter- 
tained by the conference for Mr. Wesley — Fear that Mr. 
Asbury would be called away — Brief notices of deceased 
preachers— Mr. Ware volunteers to accompany Mr. Tunnell to 
the Holston country — Character and state of the country — 
Moral condition — The work of God prospers notwithstanding 
the difficulties it has to contend with — Call for preachers down 
the Holston — Mr. Ware agrees to go and form a new circuit — • 
His way infested with savages — Narrow escapes — A woman 
killed by the Indians near where he was preaching — Preaches 
her funeral — The people favourably affected — Crosses over to 
French Broad — Finds some who had been Methodists — Soon 
raises a society — Suffers reproach on account of the conduct of 
wicked men who called themselves preachers — Narrowly es- 
capes from a company of infuriated men who became offended 
at him — Arrives at a friend's house, and thanks God for his 
deliverance. 

In the spring- of 1787, Dr. Coke visited us 
again, and called the preachers to meet in 
conference at Baltimore, on the first day of 
May. The liberty he took in changing the 
time and place of holding the conference gave 
serious offence to many of the preachers. But 
this was not all, nor even the chief matter, 
which caused some trouble at this conference, 
Mr. Wesley had appointed Mr. Whatcoat a 
superintendent, and instructed Dr. Coke to 
6* 



13a 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



introduce a usage among us to which, I may 
safely say, there was not one of the preachers 
inclined to submit, much as they loved and 
honoured him. Mr. Wesley had been in the 
habit of calling his preachers together, not to 
legislate, but to confer. Many of them he 
found to be excellent counsellors, and he heard 
them respectfully on the weighty matters 
which were brought before them; but the 
right to decide all questions he reserved to 
himself. This he deemed the more excellent 
way ; and as we had volunteered and pledged 
ourselves to obey, he instructed the doctor^ 
conformably to his own usage, to put as few 
questions to vote as possible, saying, " If 3^011, 
brother Asbury, and brother Whatcoat are 
agreed, it is enough." To place the power o$r 
deciding all questions discussed, or nearly all, 
in the hands of the superintendents, was what 
could never be introduced among us — a fact 
which we thought Mr. Wesley could not but 
have known, had he known us as well as we 
ought to have been known by Dr. Coke. After 
all, we had none to blame so much as ourselves. 
In the first efTusion of our zeal we had adopted 
a rule binding ourselves to obey Mr. Wesley ; 
and this rule must be rescinded, or we must 
be content, not only to receive Mr. Whatcoat 
as one of our superintendents, but also, as our 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 131 



brethren of the British conference, with barely 
discussing subjects, and leaving- the decision 
of them to two or three individuals. This 
was the chief cause of our rescinding- the rule. 
All, however, did not vote to rescind it. Some 
thought it would be time enough to do so when 
our superintendents should claim to decide 
questions independently of the conference, 
which, it was confidently believed, they never 
would do. 

/We were under many and great obligations 
tp Mr. Wesley, and also to Dr. Coke, who 
Jiad done much to serve us, and all at their 
own expense. As to Mr. Wesley, there were 
none of us disposed to accuse him of a de- 

J sire to tyrannize over us, and, in consequence, 
to withdraw our love and confidence from 
him. But there was, perhaps, with some, a 
lack of cautiousness not to cause grief to 
such a father. There were also suspicions 
entertained by some of the preachers, and, 
perhaps, by Mr. Asbury himself, that, if Mr. 
Whatcoat were received as a superintendent, 

^ Mr. Asbury would be recalled. For this none 
of us were prepared. 

At the conference of 1787, we had to record 
the death of two young men, who had fallen 
in the itinerant ranks, namely, John Lambert 
and James Thomas. The former was a 



132 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



native of New- Jersey, taken from the common 
walks of life. He had, in four years, (when 
the Methodist Episcopal Church was organ- 
ized,) without the parade of classical learning, 
or any regular theological training, actually 
attained to an eminence in the pulpit which 
no ordinary man could reach by the aid of 
any human means whatever. He was most 
emphatically a primitive Methodist preacher, 
preaching out of the pulpit as well as in it. 
The graces with which he was eminently 
adorned, were intelligence, innocence, and 
love. These imparted a glow of eloquence 
to all he said and did. The other, Thomas, 
was young, sprightly, blameless, and much 
esteemed as a pious and good preacher. 

At this conference I volunteered, with two 
other young men, who esteemed the reproach 
of Christ greater riches than earthly treasures, 
to accompany Mr. Tunnell to the Holston 
country, now called East Tennessee. 

The district of country where we laboured 
is finely watered by five rivers, the principal 
of which is the .Holston. On the margin of 
these rivers the soil is deep and immensely 
rich. Here, of course, the first inhabitants 
fixed their dwellings. We found the popula- 
tion spread over a territory of country equal 
in extent to East Jersey, almost wholly desti- 



MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 133 

tute of the gospel. That people everywhere 
need the gospel, no Christain would deny. 
But these, especially, needed it. In almost 
all new settlements there are always some to 
be found, whose principles and practice exert 
a pestilential influence on the morals of soci- 
ety. In this section there were many of this 
description — refugees from justice. Some 
there were who had borrowed money, or were 
otherwise in debt, and left their creditors and 
securities to do the best they could. Persons 
of such principles cannot be expected to exert 
themselves in promoting moral order in 
society. But there were others whose influ- 
ence was much more pernicious, especially 
against the introduction and progress of Me- 
thodism. These were such as had been 
guilty of some heinous or scandalous crime, 
and fled from justice. Some of them had 
left their wives, and were living with other 
women. Among these there were a few who 
had made a profession of religion, and two in 
particular who had been preachers. In their 
wickedness they retained all their bigotry in 
favour of their opinions, and their inveterate 
prejudices against the Methodists They were 
among our most violent opposers. They la- 
boured hard, and, with some people success- 
fully, to brand us as false prophets, because 



134 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

we held it possible for men to fall from grace, 
and that infants were proper subjects of bap- 
tism. One of them said, publicly, that he 
verily believed the greatest sin he ever com- 
mitted in his life, was that of yielding to the 
desire of his wife to have their first child 
baptized. 

But, notwithstanding the violent opposition 
we had to contend with from these and other 
causes, God prospered us in our work. Me- 
thodism had, indeed, reached this country 
before us. In many of the settlements we 
found some who had heard the Methodists 
preach, and they hailed us with a hearty 
welcome. Societies were formed, and a num- 
ber of log-chapels erected ; and, on the cir- 
cuit, three hundred members were received 
the first year. 

In the fall of this year, (1787,) our presiding 
elder received letters from persons low down 
the Holston and French Broad, deploring 
their entire destitution, of the gospel, and 
entreating him, if possible, to send them a 
preacher. These letters he read at the quar- 
terly meeting conference ; and it was agreed 
that I should go, and see if I could form a 
circuit in those parts. Accordingly I went. 
There were many things which rendered 
itinerating in that section of the country, at 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 135 

the time I went, peculiarly painful to a person 
like myself.* I was still young in the minis- 
try, and deeply sensible of my want of quali- 
fications to act well the part of a pioneer ; but, 
having pledged myself to go, and having evi- 
dence that my feeble efforts had been crowned 
with some success, nothing could deter me 
from redeeming my pledge. 

The winters are shorter and the climate 
less frigid in East Tennessee than in New- 
Jersey ; but sometimes the cold, for a few 
days, is intense. At these times, especially 
when I had to ford rivers and creeks at the 
risk of life, as I often bad to do, and to lodge 
in open log-cabins, with light bed-clothing, and 
frequently with several children in the same 
bed, I was much exposed to taking cold ; and 
travelling there, on these accounts, was ren- 
dered exceedingly crossing to nature. But, in 
addition to these, much of the time my path 
was infested with savage men, the deadly foe 
of white men, who had but too justly incur- 
red their resentment ; and more subtle and 
terrible enemies, among human beings, could 
not be imagined, than were the native red 
men, incensed at the wrongs inflicted upon 

* I have always considered this a season of the most severe 
sufferings I have passed through, in an itinerant life of more 
than forty years. 



136 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

them by the whites. Several families and 
individuals had been murdered by them in 
places directly on the routes I had to travel ; 
and once, at least, I narrowly escaped being 
murdered or taken prisoner. My course led 
through a fine bottom covered chiefly with the 
crab-apple tree. I passed along very slowly, 
making my observations upon the richness of 
the soil, the timber, and grass, which, at that 
late season, was yet green, and had thoughts 
of halting to muse a little in the grove ; but, 
recollecting, at the moment, that I had heard 
a rumour about hostile Indians in that vicini- 
ty, I concluded not to stop, but rather mend 
my pace. I had now approached a lofty 
grove, when, suddenly, my horse stopped, 
snorted, and wheeled about. As he wheeled 
I caught a glimpse of an Indian, but at too 
great a distance to reach me with his rifle. I 
gave my horse the reins, and hastened to the 
nearest settlement to give the alarm. I had 
been told that some horses were singularly 
afraid of an Indian. Be that as it may, I 
have reason to suppose that the sudden fright 
which mine took at seeing one, was the means, 
under God, of saving me from death or 
captivity. 

At another time, while I was preaching 
at the house of a man who had invited us 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE . 137 

by letter to visit their settlement, we were 
alarmed with the cry of " Indians !" The 
terror this cry excited at that time none can 
imagine, except those who witnessed it. In- 
stantly every man flew to his rifle, and sallied 
forth to ascertain the ground of the alarm. 
On coming out, we saw two lads running with 
all speed, and screaming, " The Indians have 
killed mother!" We followed them about 
a quarter of a mile, and witnessed the affect- 
ing scene of a woman weltering in her blood. 
It was what the people called a good sugar 
day ; and Mrs. Carter, a brother's wife of the 
man at whose house we had met, chose to stay 
at home for the purpose of making sugar 
rather than go to meeting, though it was in 
sight, and several of her friends had endea- 
voured to persuade her to go with them. 

The maple grove, or sugar-bush, was, near 
their dwelling, skirted on the side next the 
river by what they call a canebrake. Here 
Mrs. C. sat by the side of a large buck-eye 
tree, which had fallen down, spinning and 
watching her sugar, while her sons were 
gathering wood. They happened, at the 
time, to be at a distance, and in the direction 
of their uncle's house. The Indians were 
concealed in the canebrake ; and, coming up 
slily, behind the fallen tree, so as not to be 



138 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



discovered by her, they drove the tomahawk 
into her head before she knew they were 
near. The Indian who did the bloody deed 
was seen by the boys just as he struck their 
mother ; but they were at a sufficient distance 
to make their escape. 

The next day we attended the funeral, and 
almost the whole settlement were out, and 
were much affected during the discourse I de- 
livered on the occasion. It w r as my practice, 
when any peculiar effect attended my unpre- 
meditated remarks, of committing them, as 
nearly as I could from recollection, to writing. 
So I did in this case. I held my Bible in my 
hand, and said : — 

" I have been listening, my brethren, to 
your conversation respecting the afflicting 
occurrence which has brought us together. 
You think, from what you discover, that the 
Indians are numerous in this vicinity, suffi- 
ciently so to cut all of you off in your present 
defenceless state ; and you propose, without 
delay, to provide a place of refuge for your 
exposed wives and children, to which they 
may flee in times of danger, and be safe from 
the tomahawks of your merciless enemies. 
In doing this you would doubtless do well. 
But there is a death more dreadful than the 
most ferocious savage can inflict ! Against 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 139 

this I have not heard any talk of a defence. 
I am come to tell you how you may escape 
this death, of which, I doubt not, your con- 
sciences have told you there is danger, and 
to point you a place of safety, for yourselves, 
your wives, and your little ones. Some of 
you may doubt my ability to do this. But, 
see ! I hold my Bible in my hand. In this 
blessed book the will of God our Saviour is 
revealed, and brought down to the weakest 
capacity. St. Paul has cast up the sum of 
good which Heaven kindly wills to all men. 
And here it is : 1 Tim., 2d. chap., 1 God our 
Saviour will have all to be saved, and come 
to the knowledge of the truth.' Salvation, 
not only from savage, but from infernal cru- 
elty ! This is the sum, and coming to the 
knowledge of the truth is the means. Do 
any of you ask what is implied by coming to 
the knowledge of the truth ? It is to be 
brought to know that Christ, by his sacrificial 
death, has made atonement for all our sins, 
original and actual ; and that this is the 'man 
who receiveth sinners.' 

" Again, I ask, can any of you doubt of my 
sincerity, w T hen I have taken my life in my 
hand, to bring these glad tidings to your 
doors 1 Tell me, my dear people, what would 
you have to fear, if Jesus were your friend 1 



140 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

The winds and the seas — the devils and the 
dead — were subject to his word ! And he is 
still the same almighty Jesus ! With you I 
mingle my tears. You weep for your depart- 
ed, murdered friend ; and say, Alas ! that it 
had not been. She was, you say, an affec- 
tionate wife, a tender mother, and one of the 
best of neighbours. She was the better pre- 
pared to meet her tragical death. But, dear 
woman, she sinned against her own life. Had 
she been with us at the house of worship, she 
would still have lived to comfort and cheer 
her family and friends. I mean not to insi- 
nuate that her death was a judicial punish- 
ment. I cannot believe that God sent the 
savage to murder this amiable wife, mother, 
and friend, because she did not attend our 
preaching. And yet we trace a providence in 
her death. God, who numbers the hairs of 
our heads, did not see cause to interpose a 
special providence to save her. In this sense 
her enemy was permitted to perpetrate this 
cruel act. At the same time God did much to 
draw her from the place of danger. In the 
first place, his providence directed that there 
should be preaching near, at the hour the 
prowling savage was approaching the fatal 
spot; and in the second, that her friends 
should call her attention to it, and solicit her 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 141 

to go with them to hear the word of salvation 
which the Lord had sent unto them. Ah! 
my sister, for such I will style thee, I sorrow 
much on thy account, but not without hope. 
I have seen thee tenderly affected, have heard 
thee bewail thy native depravity and actual 
sins, and more than once seen thy counte- 
nance lighted up with a celestial ray of hope. 
Yesterday I marked thy vacant seat. It was 
the first time. I had been told that much 
pains had been taken to prejudice thy feeling 
mind against this way. By whom? Those 
who are in affinity with him who said to the 
Son of God, ' All this will I give thee, if thou 
wilt fall down and worship me? And are 
these they who have gloried in keeping thee 
from the place where Christ was preached ? 
Alas ! these are thy murderers. They bound 
thee with the hempen cord of prejudice, and 
delivered thee into the hands of savage men. 
But he, I hope, who 1 was in all points tempt- 
ed as we are,' had pity on thine infirmities, 
and saved thee from the gulf of eternal ruin, 
to the brink of which they who had conspired 
against thy soul had brought thee. 

"I did hear one of you say, 'It was to be so ; 
the dear woman was born to die by the hand of 
an Indian! 1 Rather say, she died by the 
hands of her professed, but deluded friends ! 



142 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



She was born a candidate for immortal 
honours, as we all were. Such is the import 
of the words I have quoted, ' God our Saviour 
will have all men to be saved, and come to 
the knowledge of the truth.' Hitherto my 
labours among- you have been apparently 
abortive. One bud, indeed, appeared; but 
before it fully bloomed, it was plucked. And 
what shall I now say ? Shall I bid you adieu, 
and leave you to waste your powers in your 
worldly pursuits, and in self-defence against 
the red men of the wilderness ? I am invited 
to more places than I can attend. Probably 
in some of those places which I have neg- 
lected, to serve you, I might have succeeded 
in winning souls to Christ, and raising up a 
little family with whom I could have felt my- 
self at home." 

After concluding my remarks, which were 
designed to improve the occasion for the be- 
nefit of the living, many came around me, and 
some who had not heard me before, and en- 
treated with tears that I would not abandon 
them. The next time I came there, ten or 
twelve united with purpose of heart to seek 
the Lord. 

From this settlement I went down to the 
lowest on the Holston. I found the people 
assembled in several places, in a state of great 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 143 

alarm, devising means of defence against an 
enemy from whom they expected no mercy. 
Many seemed struck with astonishment that I 
should hazard my life to visit them at such a 
time. They were full of kindness, heard 
with interest, and guarded me from place to 
place, as I travelled about. 

From this section I crossed over to French 
Broad river. This journey was dreary enough. 
No regular road, and for much of the way not 
a vestige of one to be seen, except the marked 
trees leading to the lower settlements on the 
French Broad, in the vicinity of the Cherokees. 
Nor was there a cabin to be seen. I was 
sometimes roused from my monotonous revery 
by flocks of deer, wild turkeys, or an affright- 
ed bear, dashing through the underbrush. 

Among the white children of the forest in- 
habiting the region I visited, there were some 
Methodists, who had come from distant parts, 
and brought their religion with them. These 
hailed me as a welcome messenger ; and, 
leading the way, many followed them in the 
service of the Lord. So in a short time we 
had a flourishing society ; and there were 
men capable of taking a part in conducting its 
operations. 

On the French Broad, and other parts of 
the circuit, I had nothing to fear from the 



144 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

Indians. But I had to stem a torrent of oppo- 
sition from another quarter. Not indeed from 
the people at first, for they received me kindly. 
But there were a few preachers whose cha- 
racters stood fair, and a number of others 
most decidedly Antinomian in their sentiments, 
who came here as professed ministers of the 
gospel; and these succeeded for a time in 
gaining the attention of the people, and preju- 
dicing their minds against the Methodists, and, 
finally, against all religion. Of these, some 
of the most gifted turned out very badly. 
Two of them,* the loudest in their defence of 
Antinomian principles, and their opposition 
against us, eloped under circumstances of 
great scandal, having ruined the domestic 
felicity of several families. This had a ten- 
dency to bring the profession of the ministry 
into much contempt. 

Some time after the infamous conduct of 
these men became notorious, while travelling 
to visit a new place, I was taken sick upon 
the road, and found it necessary to halt and 
lie down in the woods. It soon began to rain 
freely, which admonished me that I must go. 
After several attempts I succeeded in mount- 

* One of these, in haranguing the people on the subject of 
the impossibility of falling from grace, assured them that no 
falls after conviction could endanger the salvation of any. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 145 

ing my horse, and proceeded on, so slowly, 
however, that I did not reach a settlement 
through which I had to pass, until night came 
on. I accordingly called at the first house, 
and solicited shelter from the rain during the 
night, but was abruptly refused. I had been 
told that there lived in the neighbourhood a 
wealthy Quaker, and requested the churl to 
direct me to his house, which he did with a 
very significant shrug. I soon reached the 
house ; but instead of a kind-hearted Friend, 
I found a sarcastic Deist. He soon gave me 
to understand that my intended visit, with my 
character, was well known to them, and that 
neither he nor his neighbours had any great 
liking for priests of any hind ; he thought, 
therefore, that I might as well pass them by. 
I told him that whatever the differences of our 
religious views might be, there was a debt of 
humanity which we owed to each other, and 
if there was any flesh in his heart he would 
not deny a fellow-being a shelter from the 
storm during the night. He replied, " Young 
man, if thou wouldst follow some honest call- 
ing, honest men would make thee welcome. 
There," said he, "is neighbour Hodge, whose 
wife is old and ugly ; he may give thee lodg- 
ings." By this, with some other indecent 
allusions, I understood what he meant, and 
7 



146 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



that the scandal brought upon religion by 
those persons named above was employed to 
disparage us, and said to myself as I rode off, 
" Alas ! how has the Antinomian wolf, in 
sheep's clothing, infested this new world."* 

Old Mr. Hodge was indeed much less inhu- 
man than the apostate Quaker, for he per- 
mitted me to tarry, provided I would turn my 
horse into the woods, and take my lodging on 
the floor-planks. So, after turning my horse 
loose and changing my wet clothes, while sit- 
ting by the fire, I placed my hand on the old 
man's knee and said, " Father, you have not, 
I presume, lived to this good old age without 
having had many serious thoughts on the 
subject of religion?' He gave me an angry 
look, and replied that I need say nothing to 
him on the subject of religion. He believed 
all the professors he had known were hypo- 
crites ; and the preachers a set of rascals, 
no better than pickpockets. He supposed I 
was one ; but, said he, " We don't want more 

*In an itinerant life of nearly half a century, and sometimes 
as pioneer, I have been thrown upon the hospitality of all sorts 
of people ; but I beg to be delivered from the necessity of ap- 
proaching the door of an infidel or a fanatic, above all others. In 
such I have always found the milk of human kindness dried up. 
Who but an infidel, having ample accommodations, would in- 
sult a stranger and turn him from his door, to spend the night 
in the chilling rain, barely because his occupation was that of 
a preacher of the gospel 1 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 147 

of ye here. He then ordered his wife to "bear 
a hand," and give him his supper ; and, when 
it was ready, they sat down and partook 
without inviting me, or seeming to care any 
thing about me. This was not, however, a 
common thing with the people of that coun- 
try. They generally made me welcome, and 
treated me with great kindness. 

In addition to the difficulties I had to en- 
counter from the causes I have mentioned, an 
unpleasant occurrence took place which pro- 
duced others. A dispute had arisen between 
a Colonel Tipton and the governor, which 
terminated in a short civil war. The colonel 
was opposed to the execution of certain state 
laws in his section, to which the governor 
resolved to compel him and his party to sub- 
mit, by the employment of a military force. 
Coming to one of my appointments on French 
Broad, in the afternoon of one of the coldest 
days I ever witnessed in that country, I found 
a large company of armed men there, going 
to attack Colonel Tipton in his own house, 
where he had fortified himself ; and they were 
endeavouring to persuade the men who came 
to hear preaching to go with them. Captain 
Turner, at whose house we were met, was 
from home. Not observing that many of 
them were intoxicated, I ventured to address 



148 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



them, and endeavour to dissuade them from 
their purpose. But they at once concluded 
that I was Tipton's friend, and became out- 
rageous. Some were for despatching me at 
once. Others deemed it better to take me 
before the governor, who was about ten miles 
distant, and have me tried as a spy. This 
was a device of some of my friends, with a 
view of giving me a chance to make my 
escape. While they disputed, I withdrew to 
an adjoining room, and hastened to the sta- 
ble by a back way, saddled my horse, and 
was out of their reach before they knew I was 
off. Thus I escaped the vengeance of infuri- 
ated men, but became exposed to imminent 
danger from another quarter. It was now 
near night ; and I had twelve or fifteen miles 
to ride in order to reach the first settlement. 
The river I had to ford was fifty rods wide, 
and filled with floating ice, which, in some 
places, was congealed into large cakes, ren- 
dering the passage extremely difficult and 
dangerous. But my noble beast carried me 
safely over. 

I had a very imperfect knowledge of the 
way ; and, as the marks on the trees were 
my principal guide, it was matter of much 
doubt whether I could find it in the night. 
As I feared, so it happened. I took a path 



MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 149 



which soon came to an end. By this time I 
had become so chilled that I could scarcely 
keep myself awake upon my horse. I was 
apprized of my danger, dismounted immedi- 
ately, and ran to and fro until I became 
warm. After taking several cow-paths which 
led from the river into the forest, all of which 
shortly came to an end, I concluded to throw 
the bridle on my horse's neck, and let him 
take his own course ; and, a little before mid- 
night, he brought me to the house where I 
wished to go. The night was so exceedingly 
cold, and the house of my friend so open, that 
he and his family had found it more comforta- 
ble to remain up and keep a good fire, than to 
retire to rest. In this condition I found them ; 
and never was a good country fire and a kind 
reception by friends more welcome to my 
feelings. After recounting to them the ad- 
ventures of the day, how I had escaped 
from the enraged fury of men and the fierce- 
ness of the wintry frost, through the instru- 
mentality, first, of the sagacity of kind friends, 
and then that of my faithful horse, I called 
upon them to unite with me in returning 
thanks to the Christian's God, who himself is 
the preserver of man and beast. 

The men who put me in fear went and be- 
sieged Colonel Tipton's house ; but Colonel 



150 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



Maxwell, who was in his interest, came upon 
them unawares, and totally routed them, 
taking from them their arms, baggage, and 
horses. I afterward met a number of these 
men returning without their arms, and among 
them some whom I had admonished not to 
go, and was strongly inclined to remind them 
of the admonition I had given them ; but I 
concluded that they were sufficiently mortified 
already, and that it might only arouse their 
indignation against me, so I let them pass. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



151 



CHAPTER X. 

First conference, in Holston, in 1788 — Bishop Asbury de- 
tained for company to pass through the hostile tribes of Indians 
— Preachers labour during the time — The work of God breaks 
out — General Russell and lady first fruits — The effect of their 
change upon others — Mr. Ware is appointed to East New- 
River circuit — Difficulties of travelling in that new country — 
Storm on the mountains — Suffering and exposure in conse- 
quence of not being able to cross a stream — Frequent baptisms 
and their effects upon the minds of the people — Anecdote of a 
young Baptist preacher — Mr. Asbury passes through the circuit 
and takes Mr. Ware with him to North Carolina — Prospect on 
the summit of the Blue Ridge — Conference at M'Knight's 
chapel — Mr. Wesley's name restored to the Minutes — At this 
conference Mr. Ware is appointed to Caswell circuit — Is poorly 
clad — Loses his horse — Finds friends and goes on — Visits a 
neighbourhood of Episcopalians — Administers baptism — The 
power of God is revealed among the people — A blessed work 
follows — He is appointed to a district — Conversion of General 
Bryan and lady, with many other members of their family — 
Anecdote of Mrs. Jones — Wonderful manifestations of the 
power and grace of God at a quarterly meeting — Liberal offer 
made Mr. Ware to remain with an aged couple, and take charge 
of them and their business, which he declines, and leaves the 
south to return to his friends in New-Jersey. 

Our first conference in Holston was held 
in 1788. As the road by which Bishop As- 
bury was to come, was infested with hostile 
savages, so that it could not be travelled 
except by considerable companies together, 
he was detained for a week after the time 
appointed to commence it. But we were not 



152 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

idle ; and the Lord gave us many souls in the 
place where we were assembled, among whom 
were General Russell and lady, the latter a 
sister of the illustrious Patrick Henry. I 
mention these particularly, because they 
were the first fruits of our labours at this 
conference. 

On the sabbath we had a crowded audi- 
ence ; and Mr. Tunnell preached an excellent 
sermon, which produced great effect. The 
sermon was followed by a number of power- 
ful exhortations. When the meeting closed, 
Mrs. Russell came to me and said, " I thought 
I was a Christian ; but, sir, I am not a Chris- 
tian — I am the veriest sinner upon earth. I 
want you and Mr. Mastin to come with Mr. 
Tunnell to our house, and pray for us, and 
tell us what we must do to be saved." So 
we went and spent much of the afternoon in 
prayer, especially for Mrs. Russell. But she 
did not obtain deliverance. Being much ex- 
hausted, the preachers retired to a pleasant 
grove, near at hand, to spend a short time. 
After we had retired, the general, seeing the 
agony of soul under which his poor wife was 
labouring, read to her, by the advice of his 
pious daughter, Mr. Fletcher's charming ad- 
dress to mourners, as contained in his Appeal. 
At length we heard the word " Glory !" often 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS "WARE. 153 

repeated, accompanied with the clapping of 
hands. We hastened to the house, and found 
Mrs. Russell praising the Lord, and the gene- 
ral walking the floor and weeping bitterly, 
uttering, at the same time, this plaintive ap- 
peal to the Saviour of sinners : " O Lord, 
thou didst bless my dear wife while thy poor 
servant was reading to her — hast thou not a 
blessing also for me?" At length he sat 
down, quite exhausted. This scene was in a 
high degree interesting to us. To see the old 
soldier and statesman-— the proud opposer of 
godliness, trembling, and earnestly inquiring 
what he must do to be saved, was an affect- 
ing sight. But the work ended not here. 
The conversion of Mrs. Russell, whose zeal, 
good sense, and amiableness of character, 
were proverbial, together with the penitential 
grief so conspicuous in the general, made a 
deep impression on the minds of many ; and 
numbers were brought in before the con- 
ference closed. The general rested not until 
he knew his adoption ; and he continued a 
faithful member of the church, and an official 
member, after he became eligible for office, 
constantly adorning the doctrine of God our 
Saviour, unto the end of his life. 

From this conference I was appointed to 
East New-River, with a colleague vounger 
7* 



154 MEMOIR OT REV. THOMAS WARE. 



than myself. We were instructed to enlarge 
our borders from a two, to a four weeks' cir- 
cuit. This we did with great ease. There 
was not within the bounds of our circuit a re- 
ligious meeting except those held by us. The 
hearts and houses of the people were open to 
receive us, so that we hesitated not to call at 
any dwelling which might first come in our 
way when we w T anted refreshment. Here 
had been a goodly number gathered in the 
preceding year. These needed to be nursed 
with care. Of these we lost, by death, re- 
moval, and otherwise, during the year, twenty ; 
and w^e received eighty into the church. 

During the mild season we had little incon- 
venience to encounter in travelling this circuit. 
But when dreary winter set in, our sufferings 
and privations were severe in the extreme. 
We had to cross Walker's mountain in our 
route. Early one morning, toward the close 
of the year, I commenced its steep ascent. 
Much rain had fallen the previous night ; but 
it was a lovely morning, the air being exceed- 
ingly soft and pleasant for the season. When 
I had gained the summit of a ridge or spur of 
the mountain, and looked toward the heights 
yet to be ascended, where winter was collect- 
ing its howling forces, my heart failed me, 
and I began to retrace my steps. Where I 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 155 

stood it was quite calm ; and when I cast my 
eyes to the east, not a cloud was to be seen. 
But on the mountain's top all was raging 
tempest. The wind blew from the south- 
west, and the cloud, which had been hid from 
my view by the mountain, arose, and in thick 
and dark columns, loaded with vapour con- 
gealed into snow, which, as the sun shone 
upon it, had the appearance of a solid body 
of water, rolling in awful majesty, and threat- 
ening a general inundation. This, with the 
tremendous commotion of the agitated ele- 
ments upon the summit of the mountain, pre- 
sented the most terrific scene I had ever 
witnessed. I fled with all possible speed 
from this approaching cloud, which I sup- 
posed to be surcharged with rain ; but it ulti- 
mately proved to be snow. 

I then directed my course to the gap 
through which I had to pass ; and being 
somewhat sheltered from the wind by the 
mountain, I supposed the storm had abated. 
But when I came to dispute this passage with 
the furious gale, pelting me with snow and 
hail at every step, it called for all the resolu- 
tion I possessed to force the defile in the face 
of so formidable a foe. It was almost night 
when I came in sight of the hamlet for which 
I had long been anxiously looking ; but, alas ! 



156 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



a creek which crossed the way had so swol- 
len by the late rain that I could not pass it. 
The sun had gone down clear ; and the cold 
was intense, and becoming more so every 
minute. I called aloud for assistance until I 
became hoarse ; but no one answered. See- 
ing near me a few stacks of hay, with a num- 
ber of cattle shivering around them, as they 
appeared to be my only resort to save myself 
from perishing, and furnish my horse with 
something to eat, I repaired to them, placed 
my horse in a situation to eat, and provided 
as well as I could to make myself a bed of 
the hay to spend the night, unless some one 
should come to feed the stock, who might 
assist me over the creek. It was soon dark, 
and no one came. My blood began to be 
chilled ; and I felt that to stay there was to 
jeopard my life. So I resolved on returning 
to a sorry-looking hut which I had seen about 
five miles back, and seek for shelter there. 
I found the hut warm, and inhabited by a 
young couple with two small children. Whe- 
ther they thought me intoxicated, or what 
else, (as the cold had very much affected my 
speech,) I do not know ; but the man gave 
me to understand, at once, that I could not 
stay there. I looked at him, and smiling, 
said, that would depend upon our comparative 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 157 

strength. It was true he might demand the 
assistance of his wife to put me out; but I 
fondly hoped she would be on my side. At 
this he laughed pleasantly, and began to stir 
up the fire. When they ascertained who I 
was they treated me with great kindness, and 
furnished me every thing in their power to 
render me and my beast comfortable. In the 
morning I baptized their children ; and the 
man kindly accompanied me to a safe fording 
place, where I crossed, and soon reached the 
house of a friend, where I had an appoint- 
ment the preceding day. But my sufferings 
ended not with that day, nor have they termi- 
nated yet. My feet were sore for a long 
time ; and they have ever since been subject 
to a death-like coldness, for which there is no 
remedy this side of the grave. 

" The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoic- ' 
ing the heart ;" nor is that the least of these 
statutes which provides a fold for the lambs 
of the flock. Hence those who followed 
Christ as their shepherd rejoiced to hear him 
say, " Suffer little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not ; for of such is the king- 
dom of heaven." There were many on this 
circuit, both of those who had taken the Lord 
for their portion and those w T ho as yet had not, 
who manifested a desire to have him the 



158 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



God of their children, and therefore presented 
them to be baptized. Of the latter class, the 
hearts of the parents were usually touched 
when their children were dedicated to God in 
accordance with his own institution. Some- 
times the scene was truly affecting, when the 
thought was impressed upon the minds of pa- 
rents that their children, according to the 
declaration of the Saviour, belonged to the 
kingdom of heaven, while they did not. 

I cannot but regret that I did not keep, for 
my own satisfaction, a record of the number 
of these lambs of Christ's flock which I have 
held in my arms, and dedicated to Him. I 
doubt if any travelling preacher could produce 
a more extended list. For a time I attempted 
this task. But in Holston, Clinch, French 
Broad, and New-River, there were so many 
children presented for baptism that I found 
it difficult, and gave it up. Alas ! who can 
retrospect his life, and find nothing to regret ! 

As the Presbyterians on New-River had no 
minister, they brought many of their children 
to me for baptism. Neither had the Baptists, 
of whom there w T ere a few, any minister when 
we came on the circuit. A young licen- 
tiate of that order came, however, before we 
left. He appeared to possess much of the 
spirit of love, and w T as with me several days. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE, 159 

He frequently exhorted and closed our meet- 
ings by prayer. He was present one day at 
a meeting in a Presbyterian settlement, where 
several children were brought forward to be 
baptized. On this occasion I stated some of 
our reasons for baptizing infants, and then 
called on my young friend to close as usual. 
He rose up, and to our surprise, whether by 
previous understanding or not I cannot say, 
a Baptist woman in the congregation pre- 
sented him her child. He took it into his 
arms, pronounced a blessing upon it, and re- 
turned it; and then proceeded to say, " Jesus 
took little children into his arms, not to bap- 
tize, but to bless them. No, my friends, 
neither Jesus nor his disciples ever spent their 
time in baby-sprinkling." Here he paused; 
holding his hand to his eye as if in great 
pain ; and the people were at a loss to know 
what was the matter. He finally told them 
that a hornet had stung him in the eye ; and 
the woman upon whose child he had pro- 
nounced a blessing stated that she knew a 
remedy for it, at which he immediately left 
and went with her, and I never saw him after. 

I passed two years in this country very 
pleasantly to myself, and so it would have 
been in Greenland itself, with the sentiments 
and feelings I possessed. 



160 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARls. 

In the spring of 1789, Bishop Asbury vi- 
sited my circuit, and took me with him to 
North Carolina. From New River to the 
" Flower Gap," a distance not exactly remem- 
bered, we gradually ascended till we reached 
the summit of the Blue Ridge, on the border 
of North Carolina. When we arrived here, 
I was enchanted, and should have spent 
hours in surveying the scene below, had I 
been alone ; but it was all familiar to Bishop 
Asbury, who immediately dismounted and 
began to descend the mountain. I, of course, 
must follow him, which I did with a sublimity 
of feeling that I cannot describe. From this 
lofty eminence you see the world spread out 
below you, extended in one continued grove, 
excepting here and there a spot, until vision 
is lost in the blue expanse which limits its 
powers. 

Our conference was held this year at 
M'Knight's church, commencing on the 11th 
of April. It was one of the most interesting 
; conferences I had attended. Great grace 
j rested on both preachers and people, and 
\ much good resulted. There was much tender 
solicitude felt and expressed on account of j 
/ Mr. Wesley. He was grieved with the man^i 
ner in which his name had been expunged 
from the Minutes ; and it was the wish of the 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 161 

conference to introduce it again in the most 
respectful way they could. Accordingly they 
adopted the question and answer contained in 
the minutes for the year, viz. : 

" Quest. Who are the persons that exercise 
the episcopal office in the Methodist Church in 
Europe and America ? 

"Ans. John Wesley, Thomas Coke, Francis 
AsburyP 

My appointment was Caswell circuit. At 
the close of conference, I set out for my field 
of labour, poorly clad and nearly pennyless, 
but happy in God. In the Holston country 
there was but little money, and clothing was 
very dear. My coat was worn through at the 
elbows ; and I had not a whole under gar- 
ment left ; and as for boots, I had none. But 
my health was good, and I was finely mount- 
ed. I could have sold my horse for sufficient 
to purchase another to answer my pur- 
pose, and clothe myself decently ; but he 
had borne me safely through so many dan- 
gers, and once, at least, by his instinctive 
sagacity, rescued me from perishing, that I had 
resolved that nothing but death should sepa- 
rate us. This, however, soon occurred ; for 
in a few days this noble animal, my sole pro- 
perty in the world at that time, sickened and 
died. So there I was, an entire stranger, 



162 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



several hundred miles from home, without 
horse, decent clothing, or funds. But I was 
not without friends. The good brother with 
whom I stayed gave me a horse for four 
weeks on trial ; and I determined to go to 
Newbern, and try my credit for clothing. 

On my way I called at the house of a gen- 
tleman by the name of Howe, who, though 
not a Methodist, was friendly. His inquiries 
about the western country led to a develop- 
ment of my destitute condition, with which I 
saw he was touched. He pressed me to 
spend a few days with him ; but I told him 
time was a talent with which God had 
intrusted me, and it was all I could call my 
own, and I must hasten on to my work. 
Earthly treasures I had none, and had aban- 
doned all means of acquiring them. But a 
heavenly inheritance I hoped, with increasing 
zeal and activity, to seek throughout my life. 
I then informed him of my business to New- 
bern, where I knew no person. After I had 
mounted and left this gentleman, he called me 
back, saying he had a store in Newbern, and 
wished me to hand a letter which he gave 
me to his clerk. Little did I think, at the 
time, that it contained directions to his clerk 
to let me have what I might want out of the 
store to the amount of twenty-five dollars, for 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE, 163 



which he would never afterward allow me to 
pay him a single cent. Thus did the Lord 
provide ! 

Soon after commencing my labours in 
North Carolina, I visited a pleasant settle- 
ment consisting almost exclusively of Episco- 
palians. In the time of the revolutionary 
war, their ministers had left them, and they 
had long been without the form of religion 
among them. At their request, I went to 
preach to them, and baptize their children ; 
and I found them ripe for the gospel. 

The sight of so many children, brought to 
be dedicated to God in baptism, for there 
were scores of them, deeply interested me. I 
addressed the parents, who were much affect- 
ed, and their cries so increased my sensibili- 
ty that, for a time, my power of speech was 
wholly suspended. I could not, by any ex- 
ertion I could make, articulate the name of 
the child. This was observed, and occasioned 
great excitement of feeling among the people. 
But when I had so recovered as to be able to 
proceed, many were melted into tears. 

After the meeting was concluded, many 
followed me to the house where I went to 
lodge. At night, although no appointment had 
been given out, the house was filled with peo- 
ple, and I could not decline preaching to 



164 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



them. In the midst of my discourse, the 
mother of the family got down upon her 
knees ; and such was her state of feeling that, 
in that attitude, she made her way to the 
table, where I was standing, and begged me 
to pray for her. In a few moments the 
whole congregation was in commotion. I was 
alone, much exhausted, and unskilled in the 
management of such a work. I, however, 
continued to pray and exhort till midnight. 
The work advanced ; and in six weeks we 
had a society in this place of eighty members, 
mostly heads of families. This event I have 
always deemed a divine sanction of infant 
baptism. If I ever witnessed a work of God 
among any people, I witnessed it here ; and 
this work evidently commenced with the bap- 
tizing of infant children. 

My second year in this section was on 
a district, consisting of eight circuits, em- 
bracing a part of Virginia. At one of our 
quarterly meetings on New River, a reli- 
gious concern was waked up in many, which 
pervaded a large district of country, and 
suspended for many weeks almost all world- 
ly concerns. In one family, where I passed 
many happy days, there w r ere thirty who 
claimed to be born again, twelve of whom 
were whites, the fruits of that meeting. This 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



165 



was the family of General Bryan, who was 
a barrister at law, and, previous to the meet- 
ing, a professed deist. His lady had watched 
a favourable opportunity, and had obtained a 
promise from the general to attend her to the 
expected quarterly meeting. When the day 
arrived, the coach was in readiness to convey 
Mrs. Bryan to the meeting, and servants to 
attend her, but the general declined going 
himself. This was a disappointment that 
went to the heart, for she had said she would 
not go without him. After a little pause, she 
stepped to the door and ordered the coach to be 
put up, and then, with a forced smile, said, " I 
must forgive you, general, this ungentlemanly 
act, as it is the first I have had to complain 
of. If you, sir, can lightly get over your 
pledge, I cannot get over mine. I have said 
I would not go without you ;" adding, " If my 
husband was a Christian, I should be one of 
the happiest of women." She then burst into 
tears, and was about to leave the room, when 
the general caught her in his arms, and said, 
" I cannot resist the eloquence of tears ; dry 
them up, and I will go." 

On Sunday morning the general and his 
lady were seated again in the congregation. 
Preaching, with short intervals, continued 
for several hours, and the whole assembly 



166 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



were, from time to time, bowed down like the 
slender reed before the passing breeze ; but 
none of them as jet lost their elasticity. Many 
hearts seemed braised, but none broken. The 
last that spoke melted his auditors on these 
affecting words, namely, " Which none of the 
princes of this world knew, for had they known 
it, they would not have crucified the Lord of 
glory." Under this discourse General Bryan 
was seen to weep, and when the collection 
w r as made many wondered much to see him 
volunteer in making it, at the close of which 
he asked the privilege of addressing the peo- 
ple, and, having mounted the stand, spoke 
nearly in the following strain : — 

" Fellow-citizens, — I have sometimes trem- 
bled before the majesty of courts. But where 
am I now ? and what ? An advocate 1 Yes I 
Before a judge weak and erring like myself ? 
No, but before the Judge eternal ! To plead 
the cause of truth against myself, and against 
many of you, who, like myself, have crucified 
the Lord of glory ! Had I known it, I would 
not have done so wickedly, nor would you, 
nor you," pointing to two of his deistical fra- 
ternity. " You see my tears ; they are tears 
of penitential grief, for myself and for you, 
for w T e have denied the Lord that bought us 
with his own blood. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



167 



" Ye dear heralds of the gospel ! I am an 
advocate for Christ. You have convinced me. 
You say, when the Eternal would save the 
world, he chose a way known only to himself. 
None of the princes of this world knew it, 
and they could not until it was told them, and 
then they would not believe ! So neither 
would I until you melted me into the belief. 
Some may doubt it, but I know God has sent 
you, and your God and people shall be 
mine." 

During this speech, the people were silent 
as death, save now and then a sob or shriek ; 
but now a loud cry arose, and continued with 
many until the going down of the sun; and 
the slain of the Lord were many. 

General Bryan lived, I think, not quite two 
years after this happy change ; but he lived 
truly an advocate for Christ, and died happy, 
lifting his arm in token of victory when his 
tongue failed to articulate words. 

During my labours on this district, I formed 
an acquaintance with some of the most devo- 
ted, holy, zealous, and faithful people I ever 
knew. Some of them had been called to 
pass through fiery trials ; and their steadfast- 
ness was proverbial. A sister Jones, of Meck- 
lenburg, was a remarkable instance of this. 
She was a person of superior gifts as well as 



168 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



grace ; and her courage and perseverance in 
the service of the Lord constrained all who 
knew her to acknowledge her deep sincerity. 

Her husband cherished the most bitter and 
inveterate prejudice against the Methodists ; 
and, being naturally a man of violent passions 
and a most ungovernable temper, he, by his 
threats, deterred her, for a time, from joining 
them. Nor did he stop here, but positively 
forbade her going to hear them. Soon after 
this, Mr. Easter, a man remarkably owned 
of God, and a favourite preacher of Mrs. 
Jones, w T as to preach in the neighbourhood. 
Mrs. Jones told her husband she believed it 
to be a duty which she ow T ed to God and her- 
self to go and hear Mr. Easter, and begged 
his permission. But he refused. She then 
said, she should be compelled, from a sense 
of obligation to a higher pow r er, to disobey 
his command. At this, he became enraged, 
and, in his fury, swore, if she did, he would 
charge his gun and shoot her when she 
returned. But this tremendous threat did not 
deter her. During preaching she was re- 
markably blessed and strengthened ; and, on 
her return, met her infuriated husband at the 
door, with his gun in his hand. She accosted 
him mildly, and said, "My dear, if you take 
my life, you must obtain leave of my heavenly 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 169 

Spouse and, thus saying, approached him 
and took the deadly weapon out of his hand, 
without meeting with any resistance. 

This virulent temper God in due time 
softened and subdued, so that the tiger be- 
came a lamb. When on my way to my first 
quarterly meeting in Mecklenburg in this dis- 
trict, I called on Mr. Jones, and had the whole 
history of this transaction from the parties 
themselves, who, now united with one heart 
in the service of God, accompanied me to the 
meeting. 

On Saturday many people attended, and 
great power was manifested during the public 
exercises. On Sunday morning the love-feast 
was appointed to commence at eight o'clock. 
By seven the house was nearly full, and 
many were prostrate on the floor; and the 
surrounding grove was made vocal by the 
shouts of men, women, and children, as they 
were approaching the house, some of whom 
were supported on their horses by those who 
accompanied them. When the house was 
filled, those who could not get in were en- 
gaged in some religious exercise without, and 
numbers were slain under the trees. A son 
of Col. Taylor, of Tar River, supported by 
two men, went about among the people, 
praising God, and telling them what the Lord 
8 



170 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

had done for his soul ; and wherever he came 
they were melted into tears. His appearance 
was sufficient to disarm the most stout-hearted 
of them. As to preaching-, it was out of the 
question. Nor did there appear to be any 
need of it ; for all seemed to yield to the gra- 
cious influence, and with melting hearts to 
say, " This is the work of God." 

Something like this had been witnessed 
under the ministry of Mr. Boardman, King, 
and others ; but Mr. Rankin, Mr. Wesley's 
general assistant, so violently opposed it that 
it soon declined. This circumstance was re- 
membered ; and all who were the real friends 
of experimental religion agreed that it be- 
hooved us to let the Lord work in his own way. 

A little before I was called to bid a final 
adieu to North Carolina, I was, by indisposi- 
tion, confined at the house of a very aged 
couple, who had no children. They had lived 
in good repute as Christians, and deemed 
themselves such, until the baptizing in the 
woods. On that memorable day they were 
brought to see themselves sinners, without 
God and without any well-grounded hope. 
They w^ere the first who offered themselves 
for membership among us ; and they con- 
tinued to adorn their profession by well- 
ordered lives. 



MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 171 

They had given me many demonstrations 
of their affectionate regard for me ; but until 
this visit I had not known the extent of it. 
Being in possession of a farm and mill, with 
other property, and advanced in life, they de- 
sired me to write their will. I objected on 
the ground of not understanding the form 
which might be requisite. They said their 
will was simple, and might be easily drawn ; 
it was, that, on condition of my remaining 
with them through their short stay in this 
world, all they had should be mine. This 
presented a strong inducement to exchange a 
life of poverty and toil for one of affluence 
and ease. Had I accepted the offer, my his- 
tory would doubtless have been very different 
from what it is. But I could not do it with a 
good conscience ; so I bid them and North 
Carolina adieu for ever, and returned to see 
my friends in New- Jersey. 



17.2 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Mr. Ware arrives in time to attend the conference at Phila- 
delphia — Is appointed to Wilmington, in Delaware — Reflections 
upon the dealings of God with the church since its organiza- 
tion — The prosperity of the work — The character of the 
preachers — The doubts among the preachers — Locations and 
causes of them — The effect of frequent locations upon the gene- 
ral work — General council — Barely tried and abandoned — 
Success in ministerial labours — Manner of conducting them — 
Sabbath schools — Difficulties to encounter in Wilmington — 
Preference for the back woods. 

Having spent two years very pleasantly in 
this country, and witnessed many signal 
manifestations of the power and grace of 
God, I set out for the north. During my six 
years' absence I had no passionate longings 
for home ; but when I commenced my journey 
with a view of visiting it, the attraction, like 
that of a loadstone, drew me lightly over the 
vast tract of country which separated me 
from it ; and I was sometimes led to exclaim, 
" O that I had wings !" 

I arrived in time to attend the Philadelphia 
conference for 1791, and was appointed to 
Wilmington, in the state of Delaware. 

At this point it is natural for me to pause, 
and review the past — the spiritual warfare in 
which we have been engaged as a body of 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 173 

Christian ministers. Seven years I have been 
engaged in this cause. Great and signal has 
been our harmony and success. In many 
matters there may have been slight dif- 
ferences ; but in every thing essential we 
were one ; and believing the doctrines of a 
free and full salvation, and that God raised 
up the Methodists to spread, by means of 
these doctrines, evangelical holiness through 
the land, we were one and all for active war. 
During our seven years' conflict with the 
powers of darkness, we had received an ac- 
cession of sixty-seven travelling preachers, 
and sixty-four thousand thirty-nine members ; 
fifty-one thousand one hundred and fifty-five 
whites, and twelve thousand eight hundred 
and eighty-four coloured. 

I have given some account of the character 
and progress of the work in Maryland, New r - 
Jersey, Long Island, Tennessee, and North 
Carolina, where I was called to bear an 
humble part in it ; but in truth in almost every 
part of the United States the enemies of the 
Lord were overcome by thousands ; for the 
work was of God, and who can contend w r ith 
the King of kings, while the instruments he 
has chosen to carry on his work are faithful? 

Since the Christmas conference, we have 
lost, by death and location, many skilful 



174 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



warriors in this holy cause. The first that fell 
in the field was Pedicord, emphatically the 
man of feeling. The next was the grave, 
undaunted Mair, who was invincible to every 
thing but truth. Then the dove-like Lambert 
and the blameless Thomas. All these in 
two years, 1785 and 1786. The third year we 
lost none who were in full membership or had 
a seat in conference when the church was 
organized; and it is of those only that I 
speak. There were many local preachers 
who were both talented and eminently useful ; 
but I had no personal knowledge of the larger 
proportion of them. 

In 1788 we lost four by death, and two by 
what was worse than death. These two, 
whose manner of leaving the work it is pain- 
ful to record, were men who stood high in 
rank and gifts. " What," said one, " shall 
sing the dirge or perform the obsequies of a 
soul intombed?" I would say, " of a preacher 
lost !" The four who died in the work were 
burning and shining lights. I knew them all 
personally, except one. Curtis and Major 
were adorned with artless simplicity, and 
armed with the irresistible eloquence of tears. 
But which, on the whole, was pre-eminent, it 
is difficult to tell until the trophies they won 
shall be numbered in the great day. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 175 

People love the preacher who makes them 
feel. Hence there were many even among 
the unconverted who could not bear. to hear a 
whisper against either of these sons of conso- 
lation. They would have risked their lives 
to rescue them from insult or injury. I have 
seen an audience sit quietly and listen to a 
masterly discourse, without a tear to moisten 
the eye of an individual ; and then Major, by 
an exhortation of five minutes, produce such 
an effect that all seemed to melt before him, 
so that there was scarcely a dry eye in the 
whole assembly. I once heard this good 
man, when the Methodists principally for 
forty miles around, and some for more than 
fifty, were collected at a quarterly meeting, 
on the favoured peninsula. His text was, 
" Unto you who believe he is precious ;" and 
before he closed his pathetic discourse his 
voice was lost in the cries of the people ; and at 
the close of the meeting we had occasion to 
rejoice over many sons and daughters, re- 
deemed by power as well as by price. 

Woolman Hickson, distinguished by his 
thirst for knowledge, both human and divine, 
travelled our circuit soon after I became a 
Methodist ; and from his excellent example I 
profited much. Few men among us ever ob- 
served with greater exactness " the rules of a 



176 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



preacher/' especially these: — "Be diligent. 
Never be unemployed. Never be triflingly 
employed. Be serious. Let your motto be, 
Holiness unto the Lord. Avoid all lightness, 
jesting, and foolish talking." Having a strong 
and discriminating mind, by his diligence and 
application according to these rules, he could 
not but make proficiency both in gifts and 
grace. But his physical powers were feeble ; 
and nothing but a miracle, with the exertion 
he made, could save him from an early grave. 
Accordingly the term of his labours was short. 
Bat to such a man as Hickson it must be 
"gain" to "die." 

We lost a number also by location, and 
some of them eminently distinguished for 
their talents, experience, and usefulness. 

The first on this list, after the organization 
of the church in 1784, was Samuel Row. He 
had travelled five years. Three desisted 
from travelling in 1785 ; but Row was the 
most conspicuous of the number. He was, 
while with us, a man of amiable and dignified 
manners, both as a Christian and a minister. 
He had the most tenacious and retentive 
memory of any man I ever knew ; and the 
use he had made of this noble faculty evinced 
that the bent of his youthful mind had been 
toward piety. He thought, as he used 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



177 



sometimes to say, if the Bible were lost, he 
could replace by his memory the four Evan- 
gelists, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle 
to the Romans, and the greater part of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews. He was a great ad- 
mirer of Young's Night Thoughts, and never 
did I hear any person repeat them with such 
effect. He was much admired by many as a 
preacher ; but some believed he dealt too 
much in flowers and in other men's thoughts. 

Caleb Boyer and Ignatius Pigman, who 
commenced travelling in 1780, located in 
1788. These were reckoned among the first 
preachers. They were esteemed men of 
superior claims ; and it is presumed that there 
have been few in any age or country who 
could extemporize with either of these primi- 
tive Methodist missionaries. Be that as it 
may, in preaching, Boyer was the Paul, and 
Pigman the Apollos, of the Methodist con- 
nection at that time. When Whatcoat and 
Vasey heard them at the Christmas confer- 
ence, they said they had not heard their equal 
in the British connection, except Wesley and 
Fletcher. These men, who copied with great 
fidelity and exactness the example of hu- 
mility and self-devotion set by the apostle of 
the Gentiles, were held in high estimation by 
the Methodists of 1788. It was accordingly 
8* 



178 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

a matter of much grief to them when they 
abandoned the itinerant ranks. 

The sentiment, at this period of our history, 
was prevalent, that those preachers who had 
been called, by the grace and providence of 
God, into the itinerancy, could not, innocently, 
abandon it unless in case of bodily disability. 
It would have been well for the people if they 
had understood their duty to their preachers 
as well as they professed to understand the 
preachers' duty to the church and their God. 
Some, indeed, did ; but had all felt the force 
of the obligation on themselves to render the 
preachers a comfortable support, as they saw 
the duty of the preachers to be faithful in 
their work, with the few we had at that time, 
none of their families would have been allow- 
ed to suffer. 

With the small amount allowed by Disci- 
pline, some could not economize to support 
their families. To retain such preachers in 
the travelling connection, provision was made 
to allow those who had children, sixteen dol- 
lars for every one under six years of age, and 
twenty-one dollars and thirty-three cents for 
every one between six and eleven. With this 
provision, how T ever, many of our people w^ere 
dissatisfied, and, in 1787, it was rescinded. 
When this was done, Boyer and Pigman 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 179 

thought it their duty to locate. But in this I 
have always thought they erred. Had they 
continued, with unabating zeal, in the work 
of God, he would have given them friends, 
and they and their families would have suffer- 
ed as little, perhaps, as they were destined to 
in a local capacity. They had been too long 
abstracted from the business of the world to 
return to it with encouragement to prosecute 
it with safety and success. 

Four other preachers of useful talents, 
namely, S. Dudley, William Cannon, M. 
Ellis, and Joseph Wyatt, were returned as 
having a partial location. These excellent men 
had laboured successfully, and suffered much, 
in the blessed cause ; and they never should 
have been permitted to locate for want of the 
small means required to support their families, 
while they would have been content with 
such support. But the day of missionary zeal 
had only begun to dawn upon the people, 
w T hile, with the preachers, the sun was up 
and at its zenith — for there has been no day 
since as dark and tempestuous to them as that 
which had now gone by. 

All did not locate, however, on account of 
their families. Some were broken down with 
labour, and should have been placed upon the 
supernumerary list. But, at that time, we had 



180 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



none, nor until 1791, when I proposed that 
Henry Willis should stand in that relation to 
the conference. Wjatt was among those 
worn down by labour. Except his want of 
physical strength, he was little inferior to any 
among us, and, in purity, perhaps to none. 
His sermons were short, but composed of the 
best materials, and delivered in the most 
pleasing manner. He was, for many years, 
chaplain to the Maryland legislature. 

The vacancies made in the itinerant ranks 
by locations were soon filled up by young 
men ; and the work of the Lord went on and 
greatly prospered throughout our borders, so 
that we became less sensible of the loss of 
those who had been reduced to the necessity 
of pursuing some other avocation for the sup- 
port of their families, and of our obligations 
to them. Some of them might easily have 
obtained a good support in other churches ; 
for in however contemptible a light they were 
held while labouring as Methodist preachers, 
the moment any of respectable talents pro- 
posed leaving and going over to others they 
w T ere cordially received. But few of the 
preachers of this period could feel themselves 
at home anywhere but among the Methodists. 

For Mr. Asbury I had the profoundest 
veneration, and was often touched with the 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 181 



affection he manifested toward me, notwith- 
standing that, against some things in which 
he discovered a deep interest, I continued to 
cherish an opposite opinion. The first offence 
against him, of which I was conscious, was 
my opposing a new plan, proposed by the 
bishops, to supersede the necessity of a gene- 
ral conference, by instituting a general coun- 
cil, to consist of the bishops and presiding 
elders. The first plan allowed all the elders 
to be called ; but the number should not be less 
than nine. The council should have power to 
mature every thing, and must be unanimous in 
recommending; but nothing should be decisive 
until approved by the annual conferences. 

The loss of time in attending the general 
conference was great ; to which, if we add 
the expense and fatigue, we may see the mo- 
tives that influenced the bishops to propose a 
council. That these were weighty reasons, 
none could deny ; and an unwillingness to 
oppose Bishop Asbury led a majority of the 
preachers to yield, so far as to permit the 
experiment to be made. A minority, how- 
ever, opposed it from the first ; and I happen- 
ed to be one of that number. I had ventured 
to say, if there must be a council to consist 
of bishops and presiding elders, the latter 
should be chosen, not by the bishops, but by 



182 MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 

the conferences, and every thing done in coun- 
cil should be by a simple majority. Much 
as I respected our superintendents, for one I 
could not consent to give them a negative 
on all future proceedings. I was not disposed 
to charge the projectors of the plan with any 
other than the purest motives. Others, how- 
ever, I was persuaded, would do so. And, 
on the whole, it was better, in my opinion, to 
abandon the council altogether. He then 
gave me some severe rebukes ; but, neverthe- 
less, appointed me a presiding elder. The 
experiment of a council was made ; but, after 
its second meeting, it was abandoned for ever. 

Eight years had now elapsed since I enter- 
ed the itinerant field, and I still remained sin- 
gle, and held myself at liberty to go wherever 
I might be appointed. As Bishop Asbury 
was never married, he was thought to have a 
partiality for those preachers who followed 
his example, and might hold me in some 
higher estimation on that account. But with 
those preachers who married prudently, he 
found no fault. Nor had the preachers' wives 
cause to complain of any want of attention or 
kindness toward them from the bishop. On 
the contrary, he uniformly manifested a 
paternal tenderness and solicitude for their 
welfare. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE 183 

Next to Mr. Wesley, Bishop Asbury was 
the most unwearied itinerant the world ever 
saw. No man I ever knew cherished a 
higher Christian regard for the female cha- 
racter than he ; yet, for the sake of the itine- 
rancy, he chose a single life, and was doubt- 
less well pleased with those preachers who, 
for the same reason, followed his example. 

At the close of the several conferences for 
1790, we had the satisfaction to find that 
there had been gathered into the fold more 
than fourteen thousand, a greater number 
than had crowned the labours of any pre- 
ceding year. But there were many lambs of 
the flock, and the question occurred, " What 
can be done for these V 

We had made it a point, in visiting families, 
to attend especially to the children, to con- 
verse with them about Jesus, and to impress 
upon the minds of parents the importance of 
a religious care for the spiritual health of their 
offspring. We now resolved, as the heart of 
one man, to establish Sunday schools. Our 
impression was, that by these, many, very 
many, of the rising generation might be se- 
cured on the side of virtue and religion. But 
we erred in confining the benefits of these 
schools chiefly to the poor, and to the 
acquisition of human learning. Our sue- 



184 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

cess was not, therefore, commensurate with 
our confident expectations.* 

During the year before last, (1789,) Gill 
left us to sorrow, not on his account, but our 
own. His death was truly that of a righteous 
man. After witnessing a good confession, 
leaning upon the bosom of his God, he closed 
his own eyes, and sweetly fell asleep. This 
was characteristic of the man. Was it not 
saying to spectators, " See how assured I am 
that all is well?" 

And now, 1790, intelligence was brought to 
the conference that Tunnell also was among- 
the dead, and that he was no less tranquil in 
his death than in his life. I have said that 
Jonathan and David were not more ardently 
attached to each other, than were Tunnell 
and Gill. What raptures must they have 
felt at meeting in their Father's house above ! 
Few purer spirits, I verily believe, ever inha- 
bited tenements of clay. 

We lost this year, also, by location, three 
who were members of the Christmas con- 
ference. They were all gifted and successful 
labourers in the Lord's vineyard. Henry 
Willis, however, stood pre-eminent. I knew 

* Standing where I now do, and looking back on "the last 
forty years, I wonder that we did not see at once the necessity 
of forming a Sunday-school union. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 185 

him well. He was a manly genius, and very 
intelligent. He well understood theology, 
and was a most excellent man and minister. 
His life, as a travelling and local preacher, 
and a supernumerary, was, I believe, un- 
blemished. I followed him to the south as 
far as North Carolina, to the east as far as 
New- York, and to the west as far as Holston ; 
and found his name dear to many of the ex- 
cellent of the earth. His physical powers, 
however, were noj; sufficient to sustain the 
ardour of his mind. But of this he was often 
wholly unmindful, until his bow nearly lost 
its elasticity, when a local or supernumerary 
relation became inevitable. 

Thus briefly surveying some of the promi- 
nent features of the work during the seven 
years that were past, I commenced my la- 
bours in Wilmington. This was my first 
station ; but I sighed for the back woods, 
which w r ere a paradise to me, compared with 
this suffocating borough, infected with a mys- 
tical miasm, on the subject of religion, which 
had a deleterious effect on many, and. espe- 
cially on the youth. They had imbibed this 
moral poison until it broke out in supercilious 
contempt of all who were by one class de- 
nounced as hirelings and will-worshippers, 
and by another as free-willers and perfection- 



186 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



ists. Hence the house in which we worshipped 
was surrounded by hundreds of those sons of 
Belial night after night, while there were 
scarcely fifty within ; and such were their 
character and conduct that females were 
afraid to attend our meeting at night, and we 
had no alternative but to commence service 
in time to dismiss the congregation before 
dark. Gladly would I have exchanged this, 
my first station, for the western woods. I 
had, however, the pleasure of numbering 
among those of my charge some of the excel- 
lent of the earth, and much satisfaction in 
marking their growth in grace. 



CHAPTER XII. 

In 1792 Mr. Ware is appointed to Staten Island, in the state 
of New-York — Remains on this circuit but a short time — Is 
appointed to the Susquehanna district — Extent of his district — 
Moral destitution of the people in the remote parts of his dis- 
trict — Anecdote of a young man pretending to be a preacher — 
Interview with a minister of the Reformed Dutch Church — 
Ignorance of the people of his charge on the subject of religion 
— Introduction of Methodist preaching into his neighbourhood — 
The effect of it. 

In the spring of 1792, I was appointed to 
Staten Island, where I laboured a short time 
with much satisfaction and some success; 
and then took charge of the Susquehanna 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 187 

district. From this time to 1808, I continued 
to fill this very laborious office, which was, I 
believe, a longer time in regular succession 
than had fallen to the lot of any other man 
since we became a church. 

My district embraced only six circuits; but 
between two of them, Flanders and Wyoming, 
the way on the Susquehanna was dreary 
enough ; and from thence to Tioga, all but 
impassable, especially in winter. The first 
time I attempted this tour in the winter, when 
I came to the mountain through w T hich the 
river passes, the road being full of ice, it was 
impossible to keep it ; so I had no alternative 
but to turn back and take the ice in the river. 
I was afterward told that it was believed no 
person had ever passed the dangerous defile 
in this way before. In several places there 
were chasms in the ice of several feet in 
width running nearly across the river, occa- 
sioned by the w T ater's falling until the ice, 
resting upon the ridges of rocks underneath, 
was broken. Over these my horse had to 
leap. But a greater danger arose from the 
wearing of the ice by the current below, so 
that in some places it was plainly to be seen. 
Protected by a kind Providence, however, I 
passed safely through. 

At this time none seemed to care for these 



188 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



poor people in the wilderness, except the 
Methodists. One man, indeed, did visit Tioga, 
who pretended to instruct the people on the 
subject of religion, though not much to their 
benefit. After hearing the preacher who la- 
boured in that part, he rose up and told the 
people he had some objections to the doctrine 
they had heard. That doctrine to which he 
was particularly opposed was, the possibility 
of final apostacy, or falling from grace. He 
said he perceived the preacher did not under- 
stand the original, or he would not have 
quoted and applied Scripture as he did ; and 
he recited several passages which he had 
quoted, stating how they read in the original 
Greek. When he was done, the preacher, 
who was familiar with the low Dutch, replied 
that the gentleman had made a small mistake, 
for it was not Greek, but low Dutch, in which 
he had been speaking. "No," replied one, 
" it is no mistake, but a contemptible imposi- 
tion ; for I understand the Greek, and the 
fellow has not uttered one word in that lan- 
guage." He called himself a Baptist preach- 
er, but was doubtless an impostor. 

At this time we had much to contend with 
from the opposition which prejudice had every 
where raised against us and our doctrines. 
The following is an example of it. While 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 189 



travelling on this district, I one day fell in 
with a minister of the Reformed Dutch Church 
by the name of Benscoter.* I was passing a 
public house where he was, on my way to 
Wyoming ; and he mounted his horse and 
overtook me. On coming up he inquired if I 
was not a missionary. I replied that I was 
a Methodist, and we were all missionaries. 
Observing that he was surveying me very 
closely, I said, " I presume, sir, you have not 
much knowledge of the Methodists." He re- 
plied, " I know enough of them to know that 
they hold egregious errors." " Do they, in- 
deed," said I, "then they are greatly to be 
pitied." He replied, with much sternness, 
" They are greatly to be blamed ; for if I am 
rightly informed, and I believe I am, they are 
not only unlearned men, but despise learning, 
and are altogether incompetent to teach men 
the science of salvation." " In one thing, sir," 
said I, " you are misinformed. We do not 
despise learning ; on the contrary we hold it 
to be desirable. But we do not deem it an 
essential qualification of a gospel minister. 
Grace, rather than human learning, qualifies 
a man to preach. St. Paul was one of the 
most learned men of his day; and he acknow- 

* Van Benschoten, probably, contracted by common use into 
Benstoter. — Editor. 



190 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

ledged that his qualifications to preach the 
unsearchable riches of Christ were the gift 
of God. But, sir, as you have the advantages 
of age and education, and I am comparatively 
young, and make no pretensions to classical 
learning, be so good as to point out to me my 
errors." "You," said he, "have embraced 
the creed of Arminius, with the addition of 
the blasphemous article of falling from grace. 
This I hold to be the quintessence of error." 
I replied that we did hold it possible for a re- 
generated person to fall away and perish ; 
and that we thought ourselves supported in 
this opinion by the Scriptures, to the testimony 
of which we were willing to appeal ; but as 
this could not be conveniently done on the 
road, I should be pleased to hear from him 
on what he founded his views of the impecca- 
bility of the saints. "On what I found it!" 
said he, " why, on the unchangeableness of 
God." " Do I understand you, Mr. B.," said 
I, "to affirm that such is the unchangeable- 
ness of God, that his love, once placed on a 
creature, can never be detached from that 
creature, and that to say it can, is the blas- 
phemy with which you charge us ?' He said 
he claimed to be so understood. I then asked 
him whether, when God made the angels, his 
love was not placed upon them — whether he 



MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 191 

did not love them? "Angels! sir," he replied: 
" angels never had the promise made to 
Christians." "That I grant, sir," I said, "but 
did he not love them at all?" "Jesus took 
not upon him the nature of angels," was the 
answer. "I know that, sir," I continued, "but 
did not God love all the angels when he called 
them into being? You say the love of God 
can never be detached from a being on which 
it is once placed ; and I wish to know if the 
love of God was not once placed on those who 
are now in chains under darkness, reserved 
unto the judgment of the great clay ?" " You 
are a bold, adventurous young man," said the 
old gentleman, " and doubtless think you 
have placed me in a dilemma out of which I 
cannot extricate myself." I told him if he 
did not feel that he was in a dilemma, I 
thought he would not hesitate to answer my 
question, which could be done in a word. 
"And what," said he, "if I should say he loves 
them still, as his creatures ?" " I would ask 
you," I replied, "to explain to me how God 
can love devils ! Can he love their nature ? 
Surely not. Can he love their persons, and 
yet hold them in chains under darkness ? This 
is a strange token of his love. If he does still 
love them, it is a plain dictate of common 
sense that he will restore them to communion 



192 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



with himself ; and if devils will be restored, 
doubtless all wicked men will be also, and 
hell-redemption is true." Here Mr. B. inter- 
rupted me, and said with an air of contempt, 
"I perceive it is useless to converse with a 
man who cannot draw a just conclusion from 
self-evident premises." So we parted. Mr. B. 
did me great honour by warning the people 
against me, as one who would, if it were pos- 
sible, deceive the very elect. Mr. B.'s parish 
w T as very much secluded from the surrounding 
settlements. It was separated from them by 
mountains which were difficult to pass over; 
and being the regularly settled minister in 
that place, which was inhabited almost entire- 
ly by Low Dutch people, who have always 
been proverbial for the deference they pay to 
their ministers, he held an unlimited sway 
over them in religious matters. And this he 
seemed determined to improve to his own ad- 
vantage. But he overdid the matter. The 
Methodists had been kept out of the valley by 
the assiduity of the minister and his particu- 
lar friends, until the following circumstance 
occurred. Mr. B. was called on by one of his 
poor parishioners to baptize his child. He 
however deferred it in a way to satisfy the 
poor man that it would not be done until the 
accustomed fee of fifty cents should be paid 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 193 

him. This gave offence to the person con- 
cerned, and he invited a Methodist preacher 
to preach at his house and baptize his child. 
This sorely afflicted Mr. B., especially as it 
soon became evident to him that the people 
did not consider these preachers altogether so 
incompetent as he had represented them to 
be, or at least that they could understand 
them, and many closed in with their doctrine. 
And his disquietude on account of the intro- 
duction of the dreadful heresy of Methodism, 
as he had been in the habit of calling it, into 
his parish, was by no means lessened when 
some of his people told him plainly, that if 
what he had so long preached to them were 
true, they stood as good a chance to be saved 
among the Methodists as any where else. 
Having said so much about the ignorance of 
the Methodist preachers, and their incompe- 
tency to instruct the people in the doctrines 
of divine revelation, when they had obtained 
a footing in the valley, Mr. B. seemed to con- 
sider it necessary to become a little more 
active in instructing his own flock. Indeed, 
there was need enough that something should 
be done to instruct the inhabitants of this val- 
ley. I passed through it every quarter, on 
my way to Wyoming, and had an opportunity 
of knowing something respecting them; and 
9 



194 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



I verily believe I never Knew a people more 
grossly ignorant in matters of religion than 
many of them were. Mr. B., in adopting 
measures to instruct his parishioners, esta- 
blished something like a Bible-class, in which 
adults as well as children were admitted; and 
it was told me as a fact by one whose vera- 
city I had no reason to suspect, that when he 
asked an elderly woman in the class who 
was the oldest man, she replied that she did 
not know, but she believed in her soul it must 
be old Hans Brooks. Such had been the 
benefits the people had received from being 
trained up under the man who claimed to be 
a competent religious instructor, and who had 
liberally denounced the Methodist preachers 
as incompetent. But the people would judge 
for themselves. And Methodist preaching, 
after it obtained an introduction into the 
place, was listened to by many with respect 
and profit, and has been productive of great 
good to that secluded people. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



195 



CHAPTER XIII. 

In the spring of 1793 Mr. Ware takes charge of the Albany 
district — Account of an impostor assuming his name — His de- 
tection and exposure — State of the country in many parts of 
the district — Pecuniary sufferings of some of the preachers — * 
Success of the work — Revival commenced through the instru- 
mentality of a woman — Opposition from the established deno- 
minations — How met and managed — Account of the introduc- 
tion of Methodism into New-England by Rev. Jesse Lee — Some 
of the first preachers in this work — Hope Hull — Daniel Smith 
— The effect of their labours — Annoyances to the preachers by 
the practice of attacking them on the subject of doctrine, after 
preaching — The preachers in the district innocent, unassuming 
men — Thoughts on the subject of providing for the comfortable 
support of the preachers, especially when superannuated, and 
thereby preventing so frequent locations. 

In the spring of 1793 I took charge of the 
Albany district This district was constituted 
of ten circuits, and embraced a portion of four 
states, namely, New-York, Connecticut, Mas- 
sachusetts, and Vermont, 

Soon after I got within the bounds of the 
district, I met on the road one of the preachers 
who had not attended the conference ; and 
although he had never seen me before, he 
introduced himself as if he had been ac- 
quainted with me. On my informing him 
where his appointment was, he said, with 
tears in his eyes, " My dear brother, I cannot 
go. I have paid all the little demands against 



196 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

me, and am now left pennyless." I replied, 
" Cheer up, my brother, here are six dollars, 
for which I will never ask you. They will 
bear your expenses to your circuit." He took 
them, and I saw him no more. 

When I came to Albany, I found there a 
preacher who had not attended the conference, 
and whom I had never before seen. When I 
told him my name, and that I was the suc- 
cessor of Mr. Garrettson on their district, he 
seemed embarrassed. After a while he said, 
" It will not, I presume, offend you, if I give 
you my reasons for requesting to see your 
credentials. About this time last year a man 
came to this place, and told us that his name 
was Thomas Ware — that Bishop Asbury had 
sent him on from the south with directions to 
report himself to Jesse Lee, and that on his 
way he had lost his horse, and had been ad- 
vised to come to Albany, presuming that he 
might find Mr. Garrettson there, who, he had 
been told, would help him on to Mr. Lee. By 
walking, he said, and carrying his bundle, he 
had overheated himself and taken a violent 
cold, so that his voice had been for some time 
quite gone, and he was still unable to preach, 
or even pray in family devotion. Your name 
we had often seen in the Minutes ; and as 
his appearance was decent, we were too 



MEMOIR OF REV, THOMAS WARE. 197 

delicate and tender of his feelings to ask him 
for his credentials. We accordingly assisted 
him by making some collection for him, and 
then directed him to Mr. Garrettson. In a 
few days after he departed I became uneasy, 
and set out in pursuit of him ; and on my ar- 
rival at Rhinebeck, ascertained that he had 
been there, and they had made a collection 
for him. But he had left that for some other 
place." 

When he was done, I told him that I had 
heard of this impostor before. He went on 
for a while without being detected. But on 
one occasion he met a preacher on the road 
who knew me, and reported himself to him, 
assuming my name. The preacher imme- 
diately challenged him as an impostor, and 
threatened on arriving at the next town to 
have him arrested. He was well mounted, 
and, on hearing this threat, put whip to his 
horse. Brother Merrick, the preacher who 
detected him, pursued him for some time, but 
finally gave over the chase, and he was heard 
of no more. 

My venerable predecessor, the Rev. Free- 
born Garrettson, had greatly interested him- 
self for Albany, which is the metropolis of 
the state of New- York, and had succeeded in 
erecting a small church there. But the time 



198 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

of much fruit was not yet. My district was 
immensely large, and the country principally 
new. Accommodations for the preachers 
were, for the more part, poor ; and the means 
of their support exceedingly limited. While 
passing through one of the circuits, soon after 
I came on the district, I called at the preach- 
er's house. He happened at that time to be 
at home. It was near noon, and I of course 
must dine with him. He had a wife and 
seven children ; and our bill of fare was one 
blackberry pie, with rye crust, without either 
butter or lard to shorten it. After we had 
dined, when I was about to depart, I put a 
few dollars into the hands of this poor bro- 
ther, who, on receiving them, sat down and 
wept so heartily that I could not avoid weep- 
ing with him. 

The Lord was with us in a very glorious 
manner, at some of our quarterly meetings, 
during the first quarter ; and there appeared 
to be a general expectation that he would do 
still greater things for us throughout the vast 
field we had to cultivate. Here, as in Ten- 
nessee, there were multitudes of people wholly 
destitute of the gospel, until it was brought to 
them by the Methodists. The means of their 
introduction into different places were vari- 
ous ; but always such as evidently indicated 



MEMOIR OF REV. 



THOMAS WARE. 



199 



that the finger of God was in it. In one re- 
mote settlement there were about twenty 
families, who, to use the language of the 
messenger that invited us to preach to them, 
had been destitute of both law and gospel. 
" We had," said he, " a number of us lived 
like atheists, until last spring. Then there 
came a few families in among us, and with 
them an old lady who had heard the Methodists 
preach, and often told us that they would 
come and preach for us if they were invited. 
We had not, as yet, any civil officers ; and to 
most of us all days were alike. At length 
this woman persuaded a number of her friends 
to meet at her house, telling them that a 
young man who could read well would read the 
Scriptures or some good book for them, and 
they would sing hymns together, &c, for she 
said it was a shame for us to live so much like 
heathens. This was done on the sabbath ; 
and at the close of the first meeting, they 
agreed to assemble again on the next sabbath. 
When the time came, almost all the people in 
the settlement were present. This so alarm- 
ed the young man that he refused to read ; 
nor could any other person be persuaded to 
read, or give out a hymn. At length the wo- 
man, at whose house they were assembled, 
began to weep, and many, moved by feelings 



200 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

of sympathy, wept with her. She then fell 
on her knees, and cried to the Lord to have 
mercy on her and her neighbours ; and soon 
almost all in the house were on their knees 
crying aloud, 1 Save, Lord, or we perish.' 
Thus they continued to call upon the Lord 
until he came to the relief of some of them, 
and turned their mourning into joy." 

This, the man said, was one of the most 
affecting scenes he ever witnessed. " Since 
that memorable day," added he, " we have 
spent much of our time together in reading 
the Bible and prayer. We wish to be united 
in Christian fellowship, and have the ordi- 
nances of the Lord administered among us." 
A preacher was accordingly sent to them. 

In Granville and Pittsfield, the current of 
opposition was very strong against us. In 
these parts religious societies were systemati- 
cally organized, and sustained by law. With 
churches in the centre of their towns and pa- 
rishes, they prided themselves on having a 
learned, competent ministry, whom, they sup- 
ported by a tax upon the people. But with all 
their boast of learning and competency, I found 
many of the clergy in these parts so far from 
being really great men, that I soon lost all 
fear of them. 

The preacher on the Pittsfield circuit called, 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 201 

on his way to an appointment, at a public 
house to feed his horse. The inn-keeper, 
perceiving that he was a Methodist preacher, 
said to him, " How is it that you Methodists 
skulk into the dark corners and retired places 
to preach, and do not show yourselves in our 
towns and principal places, that we may hear 
you and judge for ourselves ?" The preacher 
replied, "You are so priest-ridden that none 
of you dare to open your doors to us." 
H Well," said the man, " you shall not have 
that to say again. Tell me when you will 
preach here, and if the meeting-house cannot 
be had, you shall preach in my parlour." So 
the arrangement was made for an appoint- 
ment, and the meeting-house opened. At the 
close of the sermon, the preacher said that, 
with permission, he would give out an ap- 
pointment for the presiding elder to preach 
there, when, he presumed, he would dwell on 
the peculiarities of Methodism, and then they 
could hear and judge for themselves. The 
preacher, having made the appointment, met 
me and gave rne information of what he had 
done ; but I was far from being pleased. 

When the time arrived, we found the house 
well filled, and the minister of the parish pre- 
sent ; and it was quite apparent that much 
interest was felt by the people. 

9* 



202 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



Under these circumstances it seemed neces- 
sary, as in those times Methodist preachers, 
in going into new places, generally found it, to 
suit the discourse to the occasion, and not 
disappoint the expectation of the people. I 
had learned the state of public opinion, or at 
least the views of those who were attached to 
the standing order, as the Congregationalists 
in New-England were called, respecting us 
and our preaching. But a short time before 
this meeting, I had a conversation with a dea- 
con, or principal officer of the church, who 
expressed himself without any apparent dis- 
guise or restriction on this subject. " My ad- 
vice to you, sir," said he, " and to your itine- 
rant brethren, is, to go home ; or, at least, to 
desist from disturbing the order of things 
among us. We want none of your instruc- 
tion ; and, indeed, you are not competent to 
instruct us. You make the people commit 
sin in the loss of so much precious time as is 
wasted in attending your meetings on week 
days when they ought to be at labour ; or, on 
the sabbath, in leaving the places where they 
ought to worship to run after you. We have 
learned and able ministers, arid all the neces- 
sary means of grace among us, and we do 
very well without you. Why, then, do you 
trouble yourselves about us ?" 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



203 



Such views, I ascertained, pretty generally 
prevailed, and were employed, with a constant 
cry of heresy, 06C, to prejudice the public 
mind against us. I accordingly endeavoured 
to suit my remarks to the circumstances of the 
case ; and for this purpose selected the words 
of our Lord to Martha, Luke x, 41, 42 : " Mar- 
ina, Martha, thou art careful and troubled 
about many things ; but one thing is needful ; 
md Mary hath chosen that good part which 
^hall not be taken aw r ay from her." 

I proceeded to say that the Saviour re- 
proved with great tenderness the kind-hearted 
but not altogether faultless Martha, and com- 
mended her more devout and amiable sister. 
" Your attention," said I, " is invited to a 
consideration of the characters of these two 
amiable sisters as they are exhibited in the 
text. We are told by the Evangelist John, 
that Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, 
and Lazarus. O happy family ! to be be- 
loved by the Saviour of the world, and to 
enjoy the privilege of entertaining him! Who 
would not envy the distinction? 

"The two sisters were loved, tenderly loved, 
by the Saviour, but not equally. Their piety 
shone with different degrees of lustre. The 
character of Martha was amiable, but not 
faultless. She was a great economist, but 



204 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



not a great Christian. Her love was sincere, 
but it was mixed too much with worldly pru- 
dence. The order of the family concerns 
must be attended to in accordence with her 
habits and taste. No matter how great the 
guest she was entertaining, she and her sister 
must be excused from spending their time in 
listening to him while their own concerns 
called for their attention." 

After introducing the subject with some 
such remarks, I stated what the deacon above 
alluded to had said to me, and proceeded : — 

" But Mary was more heavenly-minded. 
She understood more perfectly the true cha- 
racter of their guest, and the benefit of his 
instructions, and therefore availed herself of 
the privilege of listening to him without al- 
lowing her mind to be troubled about many 
things, as was Martha's. For this Martha 
censured her, and called on the Saviour to 
bid her attend to her domestic concerns. 
This was rude in Martha, and merited reproof. 
It indicated a worldly spirit — a state of feel- 
ing unsuited to the occasion. Here Martha 
seems to reprove her Lord for allowing Mary 
to sit at his feet and listen to his word, and 
to rebuke her sister for doing so, while she 
thinks she ought to be engaged in her ordinary 
business. But the Saviour tenderly chides 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 205 

her, i Martha, Martha, thou art careful, and 
troubled about many things.' This feeling 
allusion to her worldlj-mindedness, her anxious 
care and trouble about many things at a time 
when the subject of her soul's salvation should 
engross all her thoughts, followed by an un- 
qualified commendation of Mary's conduct in 
choosing the good part, must have, made a 
deep impression on her heart. Was it not a 
spirit similar to that manifested by Martha 
which influenced the person I have mentioned 
to charge us with causing people to sin, by 
calling them from their worldly business for 
an hour or two to listen to the gospel of the 
Son of God ? One thing is needful ! Doubt- 
less our Lord meant religion — the religion 
of the heart — a perfection in the Christian 
graces." 

I then took occasion to show in what Chris- 
tian perfection, as believed by the Methodists, 
consists, and how it must be obtained ; that 
the soul, to be saved, must, according to the 
teaching of Christ and his apostles, be quick- 
ened, regenerated, and sanctified ; and that, 
being sanctified, it was raised above the in- 
fluence of those worldly passions and feelings 
which seemed so much to trouble Martha. 
This one thing is needful — essentially so — in 
the estimation of Him who cannot err. Other 



206 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



things may be desirable ; as health, reputation, 
friends, competency, &c. But they are not 
essential to the salvation of the soul. Their 
absence may occasion suffering for a season, 
which, however, may be compensated in an- 
other world. But what will compensate a 
man for the loss of his soul ? Mary chose this 
better part. It became hers, not of necessity, 
but by choice." 

Here I took occasion to explain and defend 
the doctrines of Methodism respecting the 
universality of the atonement, the free offer of 
salvation to all men, and those other points 
by which they are contradistinguished from 
Calvinism, the creed professed by the stand- 
ing order in that section. Thus, with more 
than ordinary liberty and freedom of speech, 
I went through with a discourse which may be 
regarded as a sample of the manner by which 
Methodist preachers had to introduce them- 
selves among the people of the New-England 
states in those early days. 

After I closed, the preacher who was with me 
in the pulpit stated that if any one wished to 
remark upon the doctrine advanced in the dis- 
course, or to make any observations, there 
was an opportunity to do so. But no one 
signified a wish to speak, so he concluded the 
meeting. The good natured inn-keeper invi- 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 207 

ted us home with him, in company with the 
minister of the parish. He treated us very 
politely, but said not a word about the dis- 
course. 

Methodism was at this time a new thing in 
the land of the pilgrims. It had indeed but 
lately been introduced. In 1787, when I left 
Long Island for the west, it had not yet found 
its way into the New-England states; and it 
was doubted by some whether it could live in 
that frigid zone. But Jesse Lee, who has 
been styled the apostle of New-England, was 
persuaded that it could live where man could 
live, and therefore, in 1789, offered himself 
as a missionary for that field, and was ap- 
pointed to it. 

All who knew Mr. Lee will agree that be 
was peculiarly fitted for that work. He pos- 
sessed uncommon colloquial powers and a 
fascinating address, calculated in a high de- 
gree to prepossess the mind in his favour. 
His readiness at repartee was scarcely 
equalled; and by the skilful use of this ta- 
lent he often taught those disposed to be 
witty with him at his expense, that the safest 
w r ay to deal with him was to be civil. But 
what was of more importance, he was fired 
with a missionary zeal. The truth which 
had made him free he wished to proclaim to 



208 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



•others, and especially to the inquisitive and 
enterprising descendants of the pilgrims. He 
did not doubt but that it would make its way 
into that land of priests, and open a wide 
field for action and usefulness. He was, 
moreover, a man of great moral courage, and 
more than ordinary preaching talents. He 
preached with more ease than any other man 
I ever knew, and was, I think, the best every- 
day preacher in the connection. Such was the 
man who, but four years before I came into 
this district, first lifted the standard of Method- 
ism in the New-England states. He com- 
menced his labours in Norwalk, Connecticut, 
and progressed onward to the east, taking 
New-Haven and Boston in his course. At 
first he was obliged to preach in the open air, 
not being able to procure a house for that 
purpose. " When he stood up in the open 
air," said a person who was present, " and 
began to sing, I knew not what it meant. I 
however drew near to listen, and thought the 
prayer was the best I had ever heard. He 
then read his text, and began, in a sententious 
manner, to address his remarks to the under- 
standing and consciences of the people ; and 
I thought all who w r ere present must be con- 
strained to say, ' It is good for us to be here.' 
Ali the while the people were gathering he 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 209 



continued this mode of address, and presented 
us with such a variety of beautiful images, 
that I thought he must have been at infinite 
pains to crowd so many pretty things into his 
memory. But when he entered upon the 
subject matter of his text, it was with such an 
easy, natural flow of expression, and in such 
a tone of voice, that I could not refrain from 
weeping; and many others were affected in 
the same way. When he was done, and we 
had an opportunity of expressing our views to 
each other, it was agreed that such a man 
had not visited New-England since the days 
of Whitefield. I heard him again, and thought 
I could follow him to the ends of the earth." 
During the four years which had elapsed from 
the time that Mr. Lee first preached in this 
country to that of my coming on to this dis- 
trict, a number of eminent men had been em- 
ployed in this section of the work, whose 
memory was precious to many that had been 
profited by their ministry. Among these, 
Hope Hull and Daniel Smith were often 
spoken of in terms of great respect and ten- 
derness. Scarcely two other men could have 
been found so well calculated to second the 
efforts of Mr. Lee in the eastern states. I 
knew Mr. Hull, and almost envied him his 
talents. I thought, indeed, if I possessed his 



210 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

qualifications I could be instrumental in saving 
thousands, where, with my own, I could gain 
one. This extraordinary young man drew 
multitudes after him, who, disarmed of their 
prejudices, were, under the influence of his 
discourses, like clay in the hand of the potter. 
It seemed that he could do with them just as 
he pleased. And yet in the midst of this as- 
tonishing influence and career of usefulness, 
he sighed for a southern clime ; and at his 
own request he was permitted to retire to an- 
other portion of the field. Perhaps it was 
best, lest, if he had remained, he might have 
been idolized by the devoted people among 
whom he laboured, to his own injury and 
theirs. 

A man of some distinction represented him 
to a skilful musician, who could excite any 
passion he pleased. " In our part," said he, 
in speaking of Mr. Hull, " Arminians were 
deemed guilty of abominable heresy, and our 
minister had often denounced them, and con- 
signed them to certain perdition. But Mr. 
Hull came to a neighbouring town, and an 
influential individual invited him to ours, and 
informed our minister that, if he refused him 
the meeting-house, he should preach in his 
house. The meeting-house was opened, and 
it was crowded to overflowing. Our minister 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



211 



was present, and was the first who began to 
weep. " My eyes," said the man, " were al- 
ternately on the minister in the pulpit and the 
one in the pew ; and I was surprised to see 
how soon and how completely the latter was 
unmanned. Mr. Hull, it is true, soon left us ; 
but by his unequalled power to move the 
feelings of the people, he so far secured their 
attention as to commend to their understand- 
ing and hearts the gospel he preached, and 
Arminians have been permitted to live among 
us. From that time to the day of his death, 
our minister was never heard to say a word 
against them." 

. The oratory of Daniel Smith was different 
from that of Hope Hull. It was not calcu- 
lated to excite violent emotions, but to concili- 
ate and soothe. I recollect to have heard 
Bishop Asbury say, that D. Smith had a 
faster hold on the affections of the eastern 
people, than any other preacher who had 
ever been sent among them. Such were 
some of the men who had been instrumental 
in introducing Methodism into this section ; 
and, every thing considered, they had been 
remarkably successful in their work. Many 
were the seals of their ministry. Still the 
prejudices with which we had to contend were 
numerous and inveterate. 



212 ^MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

It was common for the Methodist preach- 
ers, when they preached in new places, and 
often in their regular appointments, to be at- 
tacked by some disputant on the subject of 
doctrines, sometimes by ministers, but more 
frequently by students in divinity or loqua- 
cious and controversial laymen. And, so far 
as my experience on this district extended, 
I discovered much rancour and bitterness 
mingled with these disputes. I am obliged 
to say that, during the three years of my 
labours in this section, I found not so much 
as one friendly clergyman professing the doc- 
trines opposed to Methodism. There may 
have been such ; but all with whom I con- 
versed, or whose sentiments I knew, were 
violent in their opposition to us ; and the 
rough manner in which I was usually treated 
by them, rendered me unwilling to come in 
contact with them. But when it so happened 
that we must try our strength, I found no dif- 
ficulty in defending the cause I had espoused ; 
for a foe despised has a great advantage. 
And when a man has a system which is 
clearly scriptural, he needs only a little plain 
common sense and self-possession to maintain 
his ground, though a host of learned theolo- 
gians should unite against him. 

My district spread over a large territory of 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 213 



country. At first it embraced, as I have 
stated, a part of four states ; and the last 
year it extended from Staten Island to Herki- 
mer, more than threes-hundred miles in 
length. And here I experienced, for the first 
time in my life, what Milton meant by " joint 
racking rheums." 

The preachers on the district, both tra- 
velling and local, were innocent unassuming 
men, who cheerfully embraced the happy toil. 
They were always glad to see me when I 
came, and especially when they had intelli- 
gence to furnish me which they knew would 
gladden my heart ; and, thanks be to God, we 
had at each visitation some returning prodi- 
gals over whom to rejoice together. 

It was about this time that my mind 
became more especially interested in the sub- 
ject of the support of the ministry. Finding 
a growing disinclination among the preachers 
for an itinerant life, which was evinced by 
their frequent locations, I pondered much on 
the subject, and wrote to John Dickens, 
our book agent in Philadelphia, a man of ex- 
cellent sense and a most amiable spirit. To 
this good man I could open all my heart, 
knowing that, if I erred, he would correct me, 
and do it too in a spirit which would increase 
my obligations to, and esteem for him. 



214 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



I thought our system too severe. It called 
us in youth to sacrifice all means of acquiring 
property, and threatened to leave us de- 
pendant on the cold hand of charity for 
our bread in old age. Some plead that we 
had no asylum for our sons, so that, while 
we were travelling and preaching to others, 
they had none to take care of them ; and 
they said they must locate to preserve 
them from ignorance and crime. And the 
fact that there was no provision made for 
superannuated men, induced many to forsake 
the itinerant ranks in order to provide, while 
they had health and strength, against absolute 
want in time of infirmity and old age. And 
w r ho could blame them ? To me it appeared 
in vain that w r e should ever hope to perpetu- 
ate the itinerant plan, unless the wants of the 
preachers were better supplied, and some 
security given them that in advanced life, or 
when their powers should be prostrated, their 
bread and their w T ater should be sure. 

My proposition to my excellent friend, Mr. 
Dickens, was, to have the Book Concern 
incorporated, and to hold the proceeds sacred 
for the superannuated preachers. In this pro- 
position he agreed w 7 ith me. But in the year 
1796 the "Chartered Fund" was instituted, the 
proceeds of which were to be applied toward 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 215 



making up the deficiencies of the preachers 
generally ; and thus the superannuated might 
be said to be placed on the charitable list, 
where, instead of their annual allowance, they 
generally received not more than one-third. 

This, I believed, would have an injurious 
effect on the itinerancy, as it would keep the 
ranks filled with young men. In ten years, 
reckoning from 1784, we lost, from the tra- 
velling connection by locations, two hundred 
and ninety preachers, among whom were 
many of long standing, and the most com- 
manding talents. 

The Rev. John Dickens, with whom I cor- 
responded on this subject, was not only one 
of the most sensible men I ever knew, but 
one of the most conscientious. The subject 
of ministerial support was with him one of 
serious import. The plan which he deemed 
the truly Methodistical one, was, simply to 
supply the wants of all the preachers, as well 
after they should become superannuated as 
while they were effective, and to provide 
to have this done without fail. Then there 
would be no inducement, on the one hand, to 
make merchandise of the gospel, nor, on the 
other, to abandon the field in view of being 
left to suffer in the decline of life. But to 
raise the expectations of the preachers, by 



216 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



promising all this, or seeming to promise it, 
by setting it forth in the Discipline as allowed 
them, he deemed an offence against justice, 
whether practised upon ourselves or others. 
He therefore believed, that, when it became 
evident that the pledge made to the superan- 
nuated preachers could not or would not be 
redeemed, it would become an imperious duty 
to disannul it and change the plan. He was 
persuaded, however, that the time was not far 
distant when the Methodist people, who loved 
the itinerancy because God had so signally 
owned it in spreading scriptural holiness 
through the land, would deal justly toward 
those self-denying men who had faithfully 
laboured in the Lord's vineyard. 

Such were the sentiments I received from 
John Dickens on this subject, in answer to my 
inquiries and suggestions. At the same time 
he remarked that the responsibility lay chiefly 
upon the preachers. The fund proposed 
might be productive of much good ; but the 
main thing was to copy more after the parent 
society in our pecuniary matters, a subject on 
which I had long thought of writing. 

Although most of the preachers on this 
district w^ere young in years, or the ministry, 
or both, and a heavy tide of opposition bore 
down upon us ; yet under the direction of our 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 217 



divine Guide we were enabled to stem the 
torrent ; and at the end of each year we found 
that we had gained a little, and had acquired 
some more strength and skill to use the wea- 
pons of our spiritual warfare. At some of our 
quarterly meetings the sacred influence was 
so evidently present that it neutralized all 
opposition, and we seemed, as the boatman 
descending the Mohawk in time of flood, to 
have nothing to do but to guide the helm. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Mr. Ware attends the New- York conference in 1796 — Goes 
with Bishop Asbury to the Philadelphia conference — Is ap- 
pointed to the Philadelphia district — Attends the General 
Conference, which sits this year in Baltimore, before going to 
his district — Reflections on the feelings which the last General 
Conference occasioned — The secession of James O'Kelly-— 
The spirit the party manifested — The good feelings which pre- 
vailed at this conference — Fault of neglecting to provide for the 
superannuated preachers — Effect of continued neglect of this 
matter on the itinerancy — Commendation of. the practice of our 
English brethren on this subject — Enters upon the duties of the 
district — Marriage — Strasburg circuit — Great revival com- 
mences under the labours of Dr. Chandler — It spreads to other 
parts of the district — Becomes general and powerful. 

On the 30th of September 1796, the annual 
conference commenced its session in the city 
of New- York. From this conference I went 
with Bishop Asbury to the Philadelphia con- 
10 



218 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WAR*. 



ference, which commenced in Philadelphia on 
the 20th of October. Here I was appointed 
to the charge of the Philadelphia district, 
which extended from Wilmington, Delaware, 
to the Seneca lake, in the state of New-York. 

I did not, however, enter upon the duties 
of my charge until after the General Con- 
ference, which commenced its session in Bal- 
timore on the 20th of the same month. 

The commencement of another General 
Conference was a period suitable for reflection. 
Four years had now elapsed since the first 
one, and, all things considered, the most 
interesting ecclesiastical council ever wit- 
nessed in this country, had been held. We 
had now tried the system, and had come 
together to review the past and confer with 
each other respecting the future. I was at 
the conference of 1792, and some of the pain- 
ful sensations I felt during its session have 
caused me at times to wish I could forget 
there had been such a meeting. Christ 
prayed that his disciples might be one, that is, 
as I understand it, to "kindly think and 
sweetly speak the same." This was pre- 
eminently the case among the primitive Me- 
thodists, and especially the first Methodist 
preachers. But there is one sense only in 
which man may be said to be perfect, and 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 219 

that is in love. Love, one apostle says, casts 
out fear; and another calls it the bond of 
perfectness. In knowledge and judgment 
man is imperfect, and therefore liable to err. 
And from adhering obstinately to views found- 
ed in error of judgment, we are sometimes 
led away from the simplicity of the gospel. 

At the General Conference of 1792, Mr. 
James O'Kelly, who had long officiated as a 
presiding elder, and acquired very considera- 
ble influence in the Church by his labours 
and perseverance, introduced a proposition to 
this effect, namely, "After the bishop appoints 
the preachers at conference to their several 
circuits, if any think himself injured by the 
appointment, he shall have liberty to appeal 
to the conference, and state his objections ; 
and if the conference approve his objections, 
the bishop shall appoint him to another cir- 
cuit." 

This was a delicate subject. There is no- 
thing more contrary to the nature or inclina- 
tion of man than to sacrifice his will ; and yet 
this must be done for the preservation of 
order, not only by Christians, but by the citi- 
zens of any commonwealth. A sensible man, 
who, when under awakening, resorted to a 
ledge of rocks for prayer, and there found 
mercy, sententiously remarked in relating his 



220 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



experience, "I lost my will among the rocks.' 
To the real Christian who wishes in any ca- 
pacity to be devoted wholly to the service of 
God, it is always pleasing to revert to the time 
when he lost his will. But when the adjust- 
ment of the powers of the officers in church 
or state is the subject of reflection, we are not 
always certain how far we ought to yield our- 
selves in voluntary submission. We may 
give up too much — more than the object is 
worth, or the exigence of the case requires. 

It was allowed, on all hands, that no sacri- 
fice could be too great to accomplish the 
object we had in view, namely, the salvation 
of souls ; but the question was, whether the 
means were the most perfectly adapted to the 
accomplishment of that object. Whether for 
this purpose so large a body of men should 
hold themselves ready to go wherever the 
general superintendent should deem it best in 
his judgment to send them. The number of 
travelling preachers was at this time two hun- 
dred and sixty-six. 

Had Mr. O'Kelly's proposition been differ- 
ently managed it might possibly have been 
carried. For myself, at first I did not see 
any thing very objectionable in it. But when 
it came to be debated, I very much disliked 
the spirit of those who advocated it, and won 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 221 

dered at the severity in which the movers and 
others who spoke in favour of it indulged in 
the course of their remarks. Some of them 
said that it was a shame for a man to accept 
of such a lordship, much more to claim it ; 
and that they who would submit to this abso- 
lute dominion must forfeit all claims to free- 
dom, and ought to have their ears bored 
through with an awl, and to be fastened to 
their master's door and become slaves for life. 
One said that to be denied such an appeal was 
an insult to his understanding, and a species 
of tyranny to which others might submit if 
they chose, but for his part he must be ex- 
cused for saying he could not. The advocates 
of the opposite side were more dispassionate 
and argumentative. They urged that Mr. 
Wesley, the father of the Methodist family, 
had devised the plan, and deemed it essential 
for the preservation of the itinerancy. They 
said that, according to the showing of brother 
O'Kelly, Mr. Wesley, if he were alive, ought 
to blush ; for he claimed the right to station 
the preachers to the day of his death. The 
appeal, it was argued, was rendered imprac- 
ticable on account of the many serious diffi- 
culties with which it was encumbered. Should 
one preacher appeal and the conference say 
his appointment should be altered, the Bishop 



222 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

must remove some other one to make him 
room ; in which case the other might complain 
and appeal in his turn ; and then again the 
first might appeal from the new appointment, 
or others whose appointments these successive 
alterations might interrupt. Hearing all that 
was said on both sides, I was finally con- 
vinced that the motion for such an appeal 
ought not to carry. 

We had now met in general conference 
again, and our number was one hundred and 
twenty. We went through our business ami- 
cably ; and there was a gracious work of 
revival in the congregations throughout the 
city. As to the conference, I was pleased 
with the spirit in which the business was 
transacted, but not with all that was done, or, 
in other words, that something was not done 
which I had hoped would be done. I had 
hoped that some measures would be entered 
into by that body to retain the preachers in 
the itinerant ranks. During the four years 
between the two general conferences we had 
lost by location one hundred and six preach- 
ers. This appeared to me a great evil, and 
one that ought to be remedied. I recollected 
that, during the revolution, congress for a 
long time neglected to do any thing by way 
of providing a pension for those who should 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 223 

remain in the service during the war ; and 
the consequence was, that many of the best 
officers left when their experience and ability 
rendered it most desirable to keep them in it. 
This much distressed Gen. Washington, who 
remonstrated with congress, and told them 
that he could procure plenty of officers, but 
they could not supply the place of the old 
ones. He urged that it was unreasonable to 
expect that men would spend the prime of 
their lives in the public service, and sacrifice 
all the means of acquiring a competency for 
old age, encountering the fatigues and hard- 
ships of the camp and the perils of the field, 
unless some provision should be made for 
their comfortable support through life. 

These views appeared so rational that no 
one could avoid feeling their force. But they 
appeared to me as applicable to Methodist 
travelling preachers as to the officers of the 
revolution. Their allowance is limited to 
what they need for their present support; and 
we say they shall be entitled to so much 
when they are worn out, or, in other words, 
that they shall have a specified annuity. But 
no adequate means are devised to raise it. 

I am one who voted for the rule which 
says, that the church shall not be accountable 
for the deficiencies of the preachers in case 



224 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



of debt ; and yet it is not easy to conceive 
of any thing more sacred than the pledge 
made to superannuated preachers, widows, 
and orphans, that a competency shall be 
furnished them while they remain dependant 
on the church. If the effective men are 
neglected, they may resort to some other em- 
ployment, unfriendly as it is to the interests 
of the church to compel them to do so, and 
thus prevent actual suffering from penury. But 
those who have worn themselves out in the 
service of the church, or the widows and 
helpless children of such for whom they have 
not provided, because they were exclusively 
devoted to the work of the ministry, what 
are they to do ? There is cruelty in neglect- 
ing them. The rule I have named seemed 
to be necessary. But I did hope some pro- 
vision would be made to meet the exigency 
of the superannuated preachers and their de- 
pendants. I desired to see some plan adopted 
which would assure the preachers that they 
should be comfortably provided for in the de- 
cline of life. But I was disappointed. I do 
believe, if such a plan had been adopted and 
carried into effect at the commencement, we 
should have been a more numerous, and, per- 
haps, a better people than we now are. None, 
I think, who have examined our history, will 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 225 



doubt that we have sustained much injury by 
the location of so many of our ministers, at a 
period, when they were best qualified to be 
useful, and the necessity of supplying- their 
places by young and inexperienced men. 
When we look at the economy of the father 
and founder of Methodism, and of our bre- 
thren in England, we are furnished with a 
lesson of instruction on this subject. Few 
preachers, after being admitted into full con- 
nection in the British conference, are known 
to locate. And how do they retain them? 
The old men in that connection are treated 
with the greatest respect and tenderness ; and 
none of them are left in the decline of life to 
contend with the world for bread. A compe- 
tent provision is made for them, so that their 
sun may go pleasantly down. 

After the close of the conference, I hasten- 
ed to my work. The labours of the district, 
I was apprized, would be very severe. But 
through mercy I w s enabled to perform 
them. 

The first year on this district presented 
nothing remarkable for record. The second, 
however, was more propitious. A glorious 
religious excitement commenced on Stras- 
burg and Chester circuits, which spread 
through the whole peninsula, exceeding any 
10* 



226 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



thing I have ever witnessed. This revival 
embraced all classes — governor, judges, law- 
yers, and statesmen, — old and young, rich 
and poor — including many of the African 
race, who adorned their profession by a well 
ordered life, and some of them by a triumph- 
ant death. 

For Strasburg circuit I felt a particular 
interest, as it had now become the place of 
my residence. Here I had formed an ac- 
quaintance with Miss Barbary Miller, a per- 
son whom I selected, above all others, as a 
suitable companion for me ; and on the 15th 
of October, 1797, we were joined in holy 
matrimony, she being thirty-five years of age, 
and I thirty-eight. On this circuit there were 
some excellent members ; but there had been 
no revival for several years. Many of the 
children of the early Methodists were nearly 
grown up, and but few of them professed 
religion, and some who had long prayed for 
a revival had become almost discouraged. 

Such was the state of things on this circuit, 
when I prevailed on Bishop Asbury to appoint 
Dr. Chandler to it, as the most likely, in my 
estimation, to be useful in stirring up the peo- 
ple. Dr. Chandler was a dentist ; and, at the 
time I obtained his consent to travel, he was 
reading medicine with Dr. Rush. He had 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 227 

been for some time a licensed preacher. He 
was gifted, enterprising, and every way well 
qualified for the itinerant work ; and in that 
capacity I thought he would be most likely to 
be useful. I had a very particular friendship 
for him, as I had long known him and his 
habits, which I believed were such as would 
render him eminently successful in the work 
of saving souls, if he would give himself up 
wholly to the service of the church. I ac- 
cordingly communicated with him on the 
subject ; but he pleaded his engagements with 
Dr. Rush as a barrier against his going out 
into the work. I accordingly waited on the 
venerable Rush, and expressed to him my 
views respecting the duty of Dr. Chandler, 
who perfectly agreed with me in the matter, 
and cheerfully released him from his engage- 
ments ; and he entered with all his soul into 
the work. 

At the commencement of the second quar- 
ter, Dr. Chandler began covenanting with the 
people. He obtained a pledge from them to 
abstain wholly from the use of ardent spirits, 
and to meet him at the throne of grace three 
times a day, namely, at sunrise, at noon, and 
at the going down of the sun, to pray for 
a revival of the work of God on the circuit, 
and especially that he would visit them and 



228 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

give them some token for good at their next 
quarterly meeting. As the time of the meet- 
ing approached, he pressed them to come out 
without fail, and expressed a belief that the 
Lord would do great things for us. Soon 
after he commenced this course, there were 
evident indications that the work was begin- 
ning to revive ; and many, with the preacher, 
began to predict that something great would 
be done at the quarterly meeting. 

On Saturday, many people attended. I 
opened the meeting by singing, and then 
attempted to pray ; but in two minutes 
my voice was drowned in the general cry 
throughout the house, which continued all 
that day and night, and indeed for the greater 
part of three days. A great number professed 
to be converted, who stood fast and adorned 
their profession. But the best of all was, 
many who had lost their first love repented, 
and did their first works ; and God restored 
them to his favour. 

Cecil circuit had been added to the Phila- 
delphia district. The quarterly meeting on 
this circuit was at hand, and I urged Dr. C. to 
attend it. He came with a number of the 
warm-hearted members from his circuit. On 
the first day of the meeting there were many 
present, and the prospect was very encourag- 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 229 

ing. But there were appearances of rain, 
w r hich it was thought might discourage the 
people from coming out in the evening. Dr. 
Chandler, however, pressed them to come out, 
saying that he believed God would be present 
and do wonders among them. " Some of 
you," he added, " will probably be kept away 
from the apprehension that it w r ill rain : but, 
mark my word, there will be no rain in this 
vicinity, until the quarterly meeting is ended." 
I was startled at this bold prediction, and was 
on the point of requesting him to recall or 
qualify it, but finally concluded to let it pass. 

Night came, and the house was crowded. 
A gracious work commenced. Some, of whom 
it was least expected, were found upon their 
knees crying for mercy. The morning of the 
sabbath was the most dark and threatening 
I ever saw. The clouds appeared surcharged 
with rain, and it was the expectation of many 
that Dr. C. would be proved a false prophet. 
But still it so turned out that the rain was 
withheld until the meeting closed, and the 
people generally had reached their homes ; 
after which the clouds emptied themselves 
upon the earth, and the fall of rain exceeded 
any thing which had been known for many 
years before. 

This meeting, though not equal to the one 



230 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



last named, was nevertheless a very profitable 
one. Some twenty or thirty professed to 
receive an evidence of the remission of their 
sins, and united with the Church. From this 
the fire began to spread to the south, and 
soon the whole peninsula was in a flame of 
revival. At the north also the influence was 
felt. Sparks were kindled in Middletown, 
Northumberland, Wilkesbarre, and quite up 
in the Genesee and lake country in western 
New- York. 



CHAPTER XV. 
In 1800 Mr. Ware is appointed to a district on the peninsula 
— Attends General Conference in Baltimore before entering 
on the labours of his district — Again deplores the neglect of 
providing for the superannuated preachers — Annual conference 
at Smyrna — A great revival goes on during its session, and one 
hundred added to the church at its close — A meeting appointed 
by request at Dover, to be called the yearly meeting— -A season 
of extraordinary power and gracious influence — Family affliction 
■ — Death of a son — Leaves the district at the end of the third 
year, and returns to the Philadelphia district — In 1803 takes 
charge of Jersey district — On leaving this, two years at St. 
George's, in Philadelphia — Is sick — In 1809, supernumerary — 
In 1810, superannuated-— In 1811, stationed at Lancaster — 1812, 
is elected by the General Conference held in New- York one of 
the book agents — 1816, appointed to Long Island — Continues 
effective till 1825, in all forty years. 

In 1800 I was appointed to a district on the 
peninsula. There were in this district ten 
circuits, twenty travelling preachers, and about 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 231 



nine thousand members. This I deemed one 
of the most important charges I ever filled. 
With the care of all these circuits and preach- 
ers, and my dear family — a wife, child, and 
aged mother — I had enough to occupy all my 
time and attention. To my family, indeed, I 
could devote but a small part of my time. 
The fertile soil we occupied employed all our 
labour and care, for the fields were white to 
the harvest. The scenes which I witnessed 
at Smyrna, Dover, Milford, Centreville, Eas- 
ton, and many other places, I have not ability 
to describe. During the times of revival in 
these places, thousands of all ranks were 
drawn to the meetings, and spent days to- 
gether in acts of devotion, apparently forgetful 
of their temporal concerns. Should any one 
ask what influenced them to this, the answer 
is, they expected to find the Lord there, and 
their expectations were realized to the joy 
and satisfaction of their souls. Thus some 
came, and then returned and told others, who 
in turn came, and went away in like manner 
to inform others still. In this way the work 
continued to extend until it became general. 

My first year on this district was one of the 
happiest in my whole life. My health was 
continually good, as was that also of my 
family — my wife and child. The vine we 



232 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

were exerting our utmost skill to dress, grew 
until it shaded all the land and regaled us 
with odoriferous flowers and delicious fruit. 
Every thing went on pleasantly. The wants 
of the preachers were supplied with the ut- 
most ease ; and the affectionate solicitude 
manifested by the members for each other's 
happiness, and that of their fellow men, was 
delightful. Here, as in Tennessee, I hesitated 
not to call at any house when I wanted re- 
freshment or a night's entertainment. The 
candle of the Lord shone brilliantly about my 
path ; and my cup was oftentimes full to 
overflowing. 

Previously to my entering upon the charge 
of this district I attended our third General 
Conference, which was held in Baltimore 
in the month of May. At this conference we 
had occasion of rejoicing on account of the 
prosperity which had attended our labours 
during the four years past. In the last year 
our number had increased three thousand five 
hundred and forty-three ; and we had peace in 
all our borders. There was one thing, how- 
ever, at which I was, as before I had been, 
deeply grieved, and wondered that a matter 
of such magnitude should be so slightly 
passed over. It was the neglect of providing 
some means to prevent so many locations. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 233 

During the four years which were past one 
hundred and twenty preachers had located; 
and though our ranks were filled up in num- 
bers, our loss in age and experience was 
great. Of this we were sensible in my 
district, which at the close of the second year 
embraced fourteen thousand one hundred and 
sixty-eight members, being an increase in two 
years of more than six thousand. 

On the second day of June our annual 
conference commenced its session in Smyrna. 
"Here," Mr. Lee says in his History, "a great 
work began." But it had in fact begun two 
years before in Pennsylvania, and had made 
some progress on the peninsula, though not 
without considerable opposition from persons 
of influence who did not like it, at least from 
the report they had heard respecting it. 

At the Smyrna conference the work mani- 
fested itself in its true character, and the 
opposition ceased. There were persons pre- 
sent from almost all parts of the Eastern Shore, 
who witnessed the general excitement and 
gracious influence from the beginning to the 
end of the conference, during which time 
hundreds were converted to God. These re- 
turned home, revived in their spirits, and 
wondering at what they had seen, and heard, 
and felt ; and through the instrumentality of 



V 

234 MEMOIR OP REV. THOMAS WARE. 

some of these the fires of revival were kin- 
dled up in their neighbourhoods before the 
preachers arrived. 

At the close of this conference one hundred 
persons were received on trial in the church ; 
and Governor Bassett, Dr. Ridgly, and others 
requested that a meeting might be appointed 
at Dover during the ensuing May, to be called 
the yearly meeting, to continue for one week. 
In compliance with this request the appoint- 
ment was made ; and the meeting was no less 
extraordinary than the one held at the con- 
ference. There were but few of the principal 
houses in this metropolis in which there were 
not some converted during the meeting ; and 
more than once the whole night was employ- 
ed, both in the church and private houses, in 
prayer for penitents, and in rejoicing with 
those who had obtained an evidence of par- 
don, or were reclaimed from their backslidings. 
Having the charge of this meeting, its weight 
would have been more than I could bear, 
only that I had brothers Cooper, Chandler, 
Spry, and many others to sustain me in the 
arduous task ; and the best of all was, God 
was with us. 

But a cup of unmixed felicity does not fall 
to the lot of any mortal in this world. On re- 
turning from my first route around the dis- 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 235 

trict for the second year, I found my wife, 
who had been confined during my absence, 
exceedingly ill, and duty obliged me to remain 
with her for a season. 

The work of the Lord was still going on 
rapidly ; and as soon as I could leave my 
afflicted companion and my infant son, I 
hasted away to see how the garden of the 
Lord flourished. 

Camp meetings had not yet been intro- 
duced ; and we knew not what to do with the 
thousands who attended our quarterly meet- 
ings. Sometimes we w T ere forced to resort to 
the woods, and even to hold our love-feasts in 
the grove. Our membership increased rapidly ; 
but we refrained from urging any to join the 
Church until they had taken time to reflect and 
examine whether they had fully made up then- 
minds to be religious, and could unreservedly 
take upon themselves the vows of their God. 

After finishing my third tour around my 
district, on my way home I called on my 
friend Dr. Eidgly, and inquired if he could 
make it convenient to be at home on a 
certain day, as I wished, Providence permit- 
ting, to come down to Dover on that day and 
get my little son vaccinated. The doctor was 
a man of much feeling, and I saw that he was 
greatly embarrassed at my mentioning my 



236 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



little son. But I was not long kept in sus- 
pense. Alas ! my first-born was no more. 
He had died during my absence. It was a 
consolation to me, however, that I was not 
absent on my own account, but in the cause 
of my heavenly Master. 

Before I left Philadelphia, the people were 
greatly excited on the subject of politics. 
Party spirit ran high. Mr. Adams was presi- 
dent ; and addresses were presented to him 
approving his administration and promising 
him support. A proposition was made in our 
conference to address him in like manner. 
To this I objected. And in opposing the 
introduction of politics into our ecclesiastical 
councils, I made some remarks on the changes 
which would be likely to take place in the 
administration of our government, upon which 
those who were influenced by a political frenzy 
put such construction as suited them. 

"While labouring on the Eastern Shoie, the 
political fever began to affect the people in 
this region ; and, some how or other, my re- 
marks came to be known to them, and I was 
thereby rendered exceedingly popular with 
one party, but lost all influence with the 
other. These, though they treated me with 
great kindness, had the address to effect my 
removal from the district. 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



237 



In 1802, I returned to the Philadelphia dis- 
trict. The next year, 1803, I again took 
charge of the Jersey district, and continued 
on it four years. After this, I laboured two 
years in the St. George's charge, in the city 
of Philadelphia. In all these places I saw 
Methodism still on the advance, but not with 
the rapidity which distinguished its march on 
the Eastern Shore. 

Toward the close of my charge in Philadel- 
phia in 1808, I was attacked with a violent 
fever, and my physician deemed it proper for 
me to be bled. Until this time, I had not been 
sensible of any material decline in strength, 
agility, or sight ; but now I could distinctly 
perceive failures in each of these. 

In the spring of 1809, my debility was 
such as rendered it necessary for me to take 
a supernumerary relation ; and the following 
year I was superannuated. In 1811, Lancas- 
ter Town was the field of my labour. 

In 1812, the General Conference was held 
in New- York. At that conference, I was 
elected one of the book agents. I continued 
in this office four years, and was then appointed 
to Long Island. From that time, 1816, I con- 
tinued to be effective till 1825, so that I was 
an effective travelling preacher, in all, forty 
years. 



238 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE, 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Reflections. — The moral condition of the country when 
Methodism was introduced — The adaptation of the itinerancy 
to the condition of the people — The character and labours of 
the early preachers, and the purity of their motives — Reflections 
on our treatment of the Indians — On our ecclesiastical organi- 
zation — Misrepresentations respecting it — Mr. Wesley's letter 
to Bishop Asbury — Probable origin of it — Spirit of revivals — 
Retrospect — Concluding remarks. 

While the United States were yet strug- 
gling for independence, an infant sect, denomi- 
nated Methodists, began to attract considerable 
attention. The more prominent peculiarities 
which distinguished them in the view of the 
public were, their itinerancy, and economy of 
ministerial support. While, in these respects, 
others deemed them singular, in their own 
estimation they were primitive. There was 
something peculiar also in their conceptions 
of truth, by which they were led to the itine- 
rant plan, the more generally and effectually 
to disseminate it. 

When the independence of the country 
was achieved, and her liberal and wholesome 
institutions established, there was nothing in 
this new world, that is, no legal impediment, 
to hinder the progress of the gospel. None 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 239 

presumed to prescribe to others what they 
should believe, and how they should wor- 
ship ; and all were left to be guided by the 
dictates of their own consciences in these 
matters. In these respects, all things were 
as they should be. 

While the civil institutions of the country 
provided for the unrestrained dissemination 
of evangelical truth, its moral condition loud- 
ly called for it. The sword of the Lord 
had fallen upon the idol shepherds, as pre- 
dicted by Zechariah of old ; the arm of pre- 
lacy was withered, and her right eye utterly 
darkened. Seeing their power and influence 
gone, many who occupied the place of shep- 
herds fled and left their flocks. Then might 
it be said of thousands : — 

" Lost are they now, and scatter'd wide, 
In pain, and weariness, and want ; 
With no kind shepherd near to guide 
The sick, and spiritless, and faint.'* 

There was then a fair opportunity for those 
who were zealous for God, to exert themselves 
in seeking the lost sheep of the house of 
Israel; and soon the voices of scores and 
hundreds of the Methodists were heard ex- 
tending to every quarter of the new empire, 
and proclaiming that Christ, in whose blood 
all men have redemption, came into the world 



240 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

to save even the chief of sinners, and inviting 
all to come unto him and be saved. 

None but those who were eye-witnesses of 
the scenes transpiring in those days, can fully 
appreciate the advantages of the Methodist 
itinerancy to our scattered population. It was 
spread out over a vast territory of country, 
and constantly extending ; and in most places 
the settlements were too small and poor to 
support a settled minister. In many instances, 
too, in the new countries, they were without 
the regular forms of law, bound together only 
by social intercourse and common interest. 
But none of these places were too small, or too 
poor, or too remote from the older settlements, 
or too destitute of orderly government, to be 
found out and regularly visited by the Method- 
ist preachers. They went out into the high- 
ways and hedges, seeking the most destitute 
and needy, and were successful in establish- 
ing the institutions of the gospel among them 
There are some still living who remember the 
quickening, regenerating, and sanctifying in- 
fluence, which attended the promulgation of 
the glad tidings of peace by these heralds of 
the cross. So mightily grew the word of the 
Lord, that multitudes both of men and women 
believed and were added to the church, inso- 
much that, in one-half century, they have 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 241 



increased to half a million. O that they 
may so live, that it may always be said of 
them, " This people have I formed for my- 
self — they shall show forth my praise." 

With feelings which cannot be described, I 
recall to mind those happy days of primitive 
Methodism, when a young and growing band 
of Christians and Christian ministers were 
labouring together in the common cause, and 
united by feelings of Christian sympathy and 
affection infinitely stronger than the ties of 
blood. A loquacious man was descanting the 
other day in my hearing on the pleasures of 
friendship. He congratulated himself as the 
happiest man in the world, because, he said, 
he did not know that he had an enemy on 
earth. Well, then, thought I, does it follow 
that all men are our friends, because we do 
not know that we have any enemies ? Friend- 
ship is not so unmeaning a thing. Many who 
know us may cherish no enmity against us, 
while at the same time they feel no sympathy 
or friendship for us. If without their assist- 
ance we can get any thing good we may be 
permitted to enjoy it without incurring their 
envy or malignity. But they care nothing 
about us ; so, if we be overtaken with a storm 
of adversity, or be driven into the disheartening 
regions of cheerless poverty, or sink under 
11 



242 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

the gloom of a hopeless despondency, it is the 
same to them — they have no feeling on our 
account. Are these friends'? Not such as 
are ever present to my mind while contem- 
plating the scenes of 1784, '5 and '6, — the 
members, and especially the ministers, of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. In connection 
with them one could not fail to appreciate the 
truth of this axiom, — " He who has friends 
can never be alone in prosperity or adversity." 
The nominal friend, like the priest and the 
Levite, will pass by on the other side ; but the 
true friend will bind up our wounds, and pour 
in the oil and the wine. 

The preachers in those days had many 
things to suffer — many dangers and toils to 
pass through. Those who went into the great 
valley were often in jeopardy from the red 
men of the forest, who saw their primitive 
possessions wasting away before the white 
man's approach, and were frequently stimu- 
lated by a sense of the wrongs they were 
suffering to sell their inheritance at the dear- 
est possible rate. Savage-like, in the pa- 
roxysms of their fury, they would wreak their 
vengeance alike upon the innocent and the 
guilty ; and many hapless families, children 
and all, were slaughtered or led into captivity 
by them. As I have said before, my own 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 243 

path has been infested by these ferocious sons 
of the forest, so that I narrowly escaped; but 
I could never find it in my heart to acquit tho 
white man of all blame in this matter and cast 
it upon the natives. The history of their 
wrongs and their sufferings is familiar to ail 
intelligent Americans ; and who, knowing 
how r they have been treated from the begin- 
ning — in what manner the soil which we cul- 
tivate in peace has been obtained from them — . 
does not feel a wish that some just compen- 
sation may be rendered to them ? From the 
readiness which this interesting people have 
manifested to receive the gospel, and the evi- 
dence of its saving and sanctifying efficacy 
upon them, we are sustained in the opinion 
that they might have been Christianized and 
civilized from the first, had proper measures 
been pursued toward them. And how God- 
like would it have been, had men come to 
them with the Bible in their hands, and hearts 
glowing with love and pity; and, instead of 
robbing them of their inheritance and exciting 
their hostility, taught them the principles of 
pure Christianity, and baptized them in the 
name of the Holy Trinity! I sometimes 
figure to myself a nation of red men, enjoying 
the institutions of Christianity and civiliza- 
tion — educated in the sciences, and adorned 



244 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



with all that dignifies the noblest work of 
God — and inquire, " Might not the aborigines 
of this country now have presented such a 
nation if they had been properly dealt with ?" 
In native sagacity, heroic fortitude, and elo- 
quence, they are not surpassed by any people 
in the world. What, then, could prevent 
their becoming a refined, moral, and Christian 
people? 

With all we had to suffer, a single motive, 
to serve God and save souls, has actuated the 
body of Methodist preachers from the begin- 
ning ; and, as I have before said, there was^ 
one who knew that it was our highest ambi- 
tion to keep the church pure, and to devote 
ourselves wholly to the work. In view of 
this, we loved the rules drawn up by Mr. 
Wesley for the preachers, and cordially 
adopted them at the Christmas conference by 
a unanimous vote. These rules are so excel- 
lent in their composition, and admirably adapt- 
ed to the promotion of sound morality and 
practical piety, that we may challenge a com- 
parison of them with any thing found among 
the different denominations of Christians. It 
is true that some of them are peculiar to an 
itinerant preacher ; and I am prepared to say, 
after an experience of nearly half a century, 
that among all whom I have known, those 




MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 245 



preachers who have observed the rules most 
closely and conscientiously have been the 
most happy and useful; all who have neg- 
lected or violated them have suffered loss; 
and some entirely fallen away. 

It is not to be supposed that all the mea- 
sures adopted by the Church at its organiza- 
tion were perfectly satisfactory to all who 
took part in the deliberations of the conference 
at which they were adopted. I am not there- 
fore going to enter into a minute and unqua- 
lified defence of all that was done on that 
occasion. But the motives which influenced 
the ministry to retain the modifications and 
conduct of the itinerancy in their own hands 
were pure ; and I may offer a few remarks 
respecting them. 

We were itinerants ; and he whose servants 
we were knoweth that we were influenced by 
a desire to spread scriptural holiness through 
the land, and to preserve the ministry and 
membership pure from error and sin. The 
plan of a general superintendency had not 
only been submitted to, but was universally 
approved by both preachers and people. 
The system was simple and familiar to us all. 
Every thing went on as it had before our or- 
ganization, with this advantage, that in our 
church capacity the delightful privilege was 



246 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



furnished us of bringing our children to be 
dedicated in baptism at our own altars, and 
of receiving the sacrament of the Lord's sup- 
per at the hand of our own ministers. Ordi- 
nation was the only thing we had seemed to 
lack ; and this lack was now supplied. 

That our ecclesiastical polity and discipline 
w T ere not formed on the model of our civil 
institutions, or that of other churches, we well 
knew ; but we did believe, and so did our 
people, that it was expedient to form them as 
we did, in order to keep the itinerant system 
in operation. And as this was a paramount 
object, it w r as wisdom to conform the general 
organization in a way to accomplish it. In 
this, also, we followed what we thought to be 
the plain view taken of the w T hole subject by 
Mr. Wesley, the father of the Methodist 
family, and the founder of the itinerancy. 
We did not deny the right to any people to 
choose their pastors, or to have lay represent- 
atives in their ecclesiastical councils if they 
saw proper. But it was evident to us, that if 
our societies should demand this they would 
assume a fearful responsibility, as it must 
subvert the itinerancy at the foundation, and 
overthrow the whole system. But this they 
had no disposition to do, and they understood 
the effect of such a course, and prized the 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



247 



plan for its intrinsic excellency and efficient 
operation too much to wish any thing done to 
injure it. Moreover we knew, and our people 
knew, that we were wholly dependent on 
them for our support; and that they could 
wield this check over us at any time they 
might deem it necessary. Such was the talk 
among ourselves and among the most intelli- 
gent of our people at the time. We assumed 
nothing, made no new terms of communion, 
(except one relating to slavery which we could 
never enforce, and were obliged to rescind,) 
and so far were we from discarding Mr. 
Wesley, that we said, during his life we would 
be subject to him as his sons in the gospel, 
and, in matters belonging to church govern- 
ment, obey his instructions. In this we un- 
doubtedly went too far. But it was from the 
best of motives. We loved Mr. Wesley, and 
as far as it was consistent to be subject to 
any individual under similar circumstances, 
we delighted to serve him. But he was a 
man, and was several thousand miles from 
us ; and he might become prejudiced against 
us by misinformation or otherwise, and direct 
what, if he knew as better, he would not. 
Still in the ardour of our love and zeal we 
did not enter extensively into such reflections. 
Had I been told at the Christmas confer- 



248 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



ence, that before I should go hence men 
would rise up among us, calling themselves 
Methodists, who would endeavour to make 
the world believe such things as I have seen 
put forth to the public and dogmatically as- 
serted as truth, I would have replied, " No, it 
cannot be ; none can ever be found to cogitate, 
or even retail, so foul a slander !" But I have 
learned how easy it is to place too much con- 
fidence in men. 

These allegations have been amply refuted 
by Dr. Emory, in his work entitled " Defence 
of our Fathers," so that it would seem need 
less to say any thing bearing on that subject ; 
yet, having had a long and intimate know 
ledge of Messrs. Asbury and Coke, an old 
friend who made a considerable journey to 
see me and converse with me respecting 
those times, has satisfied me that I ought to 
state what I know in reference to these mat- 
ters of which so much has been said. " Were 
you not," inquired my friend, " a member of 
the Christmas conference ?" I replied that I 
was. "How did it happen then," he con- 
tinued, " that you suffered Dr. Coke and Mr. 
Asbury to introduce into your Discipline 
statements which were false in themselves? 
They could not have done it," continued he, 
" without your knowledge." After thus intro- 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 249 

during the subject, he proceeded to say, that 
there were a number in his vicinity who were 
pubhshing such statements respecting those 
men, and their conduct in regard to the or- 
ganization of the Church. " There is one," 
said he, " who has long been a local preacher, 
that publicly affirms these things, and says 
that Asbury did more harm to the Americans 
by introducing Episcopacy than was ever 
done by that arch infidel, Tom Paine." He 
further remarked that they were in the habit 
of industriously circulating these statements 
through the press, in pamphlet form, and 
otherwise, without taking any notice of the 
refutations they had received ; and that, 
knowing I was acquainted with the events of 
those days, he had an earnest desire to see 
me, and hear what I had to say with respect 
to these things. 

I perceived from what my friend said that 
the insinuations which had been made, that 
Mr. Wesley was dissatisfied with Mr. Asbury, 
and soured against him, on account of his 
taking the name of bishop, and therefore re- 
buked him as acting contrary to what he 
intended, had made some unfavourable im- 
pressions on the minds of sincere and well 
meaning persons ; and this fact, among others, 
induced me to comply with his request. 
11* 



250 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



Of Dr. Coke and Mr. Asbury I can 
say, I believe, from my intimate acquaint- 
ance with them, that they were as pure in 
morals and motives as Mr. Wesley himself — - 
they were incapable of the acts ascribed to 
them. They were, indeed, men, and as men 
liable to err. But that they aspired to obtain 
power with which it was not the will of Mr. 
Wesley and the conference to invest them, is 
an imputation which no one as intimately ac- 
quainted with them as I was, could believe 
for a moment. Nor was the Christmas con- 
ference composed of a class of men to be so 
easily imposed upon. They understood the 
subject in all its bearings ; and no considera- 
tion would have induced them, at that junc- 
ture, to barter away their rights and privi- 
leges, especially in a manner contrary to 
what they understood to be the views and 
instructions of Mr. Wesley. 

That Mr. Asbury did receive a letter con 
taining the language of rebuke from the man 
whom he delighted to serve and honour, I 
knew soon after he received it ; and I knew 
also to whom he ascribed the work of sour- 
ing the mind of his father and friend against 
him. He afterward informed me that he had 
received a letter from Mr. Wesley, in which 
he said, " I am nevertheless glad that you 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 251 

remained in America, and rejoice that the 
Lord has opened so wide a door before you." 

Mr. Asbury did not name the man who, he 
thought, had done him the unkindness of en- 
deavouring to disaffect Mr. "Wesley's mind 
toward him. But I thought I knew to whom 
he alluded. He was an elder brother, a chief 
man among the preachers while in this country, 
and a high-toned loyalist. After the declara- 
tion of independence, he deemed it his duty 
and that of all the preachers sent by Mr. 
Wesley to America, to return home. Not 
being able to prevail on Mr. Asbury to accom- 
pany him, he forsook his charge, and went 
over within the British lines, they being then 
in possession of Philadelphia ; and there he 
declared from the pulpit that he did not be- 
lieve God would revive his work in America, 
until the people submitted to their rightful 
sovereign, the king of England ; and he ex- 
pressed himself, in similar terms to Mr. As- 
bury in a letter. In reply, Mr. Asbury said, 
he was so strongly knit in affection to many 
of the Americans that he could not tear him- 
self away from them ; that he knew the 
Americans, and was well satisfied they would 
not rest until they had achieved their inde- 
pendence ; and plainly intimated that he be- 
lieved they would become a free and inde- 



252 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



pendent nation, and that there was a great 
work to be accomplished in this country, under 
the direction of Divine Providence, through 
the instrumentality of Methodist preaching. 
\ The letter from Mr. Asbury containing these 
; remarks providentially fell into the hands of 
the American officers, and was the unpremedi- 
tated cause of changing their views and feel- 
ing respecting him, so that he was afterward 
treated with more favour than he had been 
before. Of this fact I was informed by a 
man who was afterward governor of the state 
of Delaware. 

The preacher to whom Mr. Asbury attri- 
buted the agency of endeavouring to disaffect 
Mr. Wesley's mind toward him had, from the 
first, suspected him of being favourable to the 
cause of the Americans ; and w T hen he be- 
came fully satisfied of it, he manifested strong 
opposition of feeling against him. And, be- 
sides this, Mr. Asbury had offended him in 
debate in conference on the spirit of the Ame- 
ricans. This was a delicate subject to be 
discussed at that time, as there were some 
preachers as warm on the side of freedom 
as this elder brother was against it. In his 
remarks he said, he had been at the south, 
and was alarmed at the noise — the wild enthu- 
siasm — which he had witnessed in the south- 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 253 

ern states ; that a stop must absolutely be put 
to the prevailing wild-fire, or it would prove 
ruinous to all we held sacred ; and that he 
had done all he could to suppress it, but was 
ashamed to say that some of his brethren, 
the preachers, were infected with it. In 
this, he alluded to the peculiar character of 
some of the great revivals then going on at 
the south. Mr. Asbury became alarmed at 
these imprudent remarks, and interposed to 
put a stop to them in a way which was alike 
gratifying to the preachers generally, and 
mortifying to the person concerned. He evi- 
dently returned to England with no very kind 
disposition toward Mr. Asbury ; and with such 
feelings as he cherished would not be likely 
to make a very favourable representation of 
him to Mr. Wesley. This was probably the 
source of the letter which has been used in so 
exceptionable a manner, since the death of 
both these holy men, between whom malignity 
itself could not effect a permanent breach, 
however it might for a season weaken confi- 
dence, and produce an unwonted jealousy. 

On the subject of the spirit which attended 
the revivals then in progress, Mr. Asbury 
used to say, " The friends of order may allow 
a guilty mortal to tremble at God's word, for 
to such the Lord will look ; — and the saints 



254 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



to cry out and shout, when the Holy One of 
Israel is in the midst of them. To be hasty 
in plucking up the tares, is to endanger the 
wheat. Of this we should be aware, lest we 
touch the ark to our own injury and that of 
others." 

Much was said in those days on the subject 
of order, especially by professors in other 
churches. On this subject they erred by mis- 
taking the order of man for the order of God. 
God has his own way in carrying on his mar- 
vellous works in the earth ; and they who 
would serve him in simplicity, must mark that 
way, and not fight against him. 

I once knew a pious female, a member of a 
church, remarkable for her good sense and 
propriety of conduct, who was constrained, 
under a pathetic address of her minister, to 
cry out and shout aloud. The effect was 
thrilling. Numbers in the congregation trem- 
bled and wept. The minister, however, sharply 
rebuked her, and told her to be silent, or to 
leave the house. She chose the latter, and 
immediately retired to a grove, where, with- 
out rebuke or interruption, she could give 
vent to the swelling emotions of her pious 
heart. Had the minister continued his ad- 
dress instead of checking the impulse of feel- 
ing uttered by this devoted Christian, and 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 255 

called upon those who were weeping and 
trembling-, to humble themselves before God, 
and seek his mercy, and the pious part of the 
congregation to unite in prayer for them, he 
would no doubt have had a great and glori- 
ous revival of religion, and many souls would 
have been rescued from the thraldom of sin. 
But setting his face against the first manifest- 
ations of God's special presence among the 
people, the serious impressions which some 
had soon died away ; and the good woman 
who would have been a valuable helper to 
him if the revival had gone on, was set down 
as an enthusiast. Thus was she restrained 
while she continued in connection with that 
church. In process of time, however, she 
removed to another place, where she opened 
her doors for Methodist preaching, and was 
the first to join class when an opportunity was 
offered. After this, she lived long as a nurs- 
ing mother in our Zion, greatly beloved and 
respected by all who knew her. 

From the diary of this excellent person I 
took, by permission, the following extracts, 
relating to the grove in which she retired for 
devotion : — 

" The grove to which I fled from the re- 
buke of my minister, for disturbing what he 
called the order of God, where nevertheless 



256 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

the presence of my God, which attended me, 
shone so bright that its foliage seemed tinged 
with his glory, was long my favourite retreat. 
Here were lofty trees, whose cooling umbrage, 
in the sultry season, I often enjoyed, and 
whose towering leafless heads I have seen in 
winter wave to Him who bid them be, and I 
ardently desired to be as pure from sin as they. 

" The last time I visited this delightful re- 
cess, on the one side a marshy swamp through 
which no one could pass, and on the other an 
open wood through which none could ap- 
proach unseen, (for I wished to be unseen by 
all but Heaven,) I renewed my covenant with 
God, and received a delightful assurance that 
he would go with me in the way I was about 
to go ; — and, retiring, I cast back on this rural 
temple a last and lingering look, and, sighing, 
said, ' Adieu ! adieu, ye trembling aspens, em- 
blems of myself, ye tremble without fear, 
corroding fear ! Adieu, ye towering poplars, 
oaks, and elms ! ye sweet magnolias, and 
ye mantling vines, adieu ! Beneath your am- 
ple shade I've sat, I've knelt, I've sung, and 
shouted out, Amen ! without rebuke, and 
made you witnesses of my solemn vows to 
Him whose sacred hands were fastened to 
a tree, and whose blood I hold to be the 
source, the price, the sum, of all my hopes, 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 257 



for time and for eternal ages. Hallelujah! 
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth !' " 

In 1832, 1 attended the General Conference 
in Philadelphia. After it closed, I made the 
following communication to the Christian Ad- 
vocate and Journal, which was published in 
its columns : — 

On the first day of May last, I took my 
seat in the General Conference with senti- 
ments and sensibilities that would have made 
me happy in a desert or a dungeon. With a 
palpitating heart, I surveyed the representa- 
tives of more than half a million of Method- 
ists, bound together by ties more sacred than 
the ties of blood ; but among all these there 
was not one of that band of brothers who 
originally constituted the Methodist Episcopal 
Church — no not one ! all had been shrouded in 
the grave or in the shade before my name 
was transferred to the superannuated list. 

All to whom I was personally known, ex- 
cept a few old men, on shaking me by the 
hand, called me father. And if I may be allow- 
ed to take that appellation, where is the man 
since the flood who has lived to see so nume- 
rous a family grow up around him ? Did I 
hear one say, that would be arrogance, 
indeed, to number among thy sons the Me- 
thodist sanhedrim, with the venerable M'Ken- 



258 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



dree at their head, whose discriminating and 
descriptive powers, though trembling on his 
staff, still charm his listening auditors — with 
his coadjutors, whose well-earned fame in the 
Church is all abroad? That be far from thee. 

And was it never known that sons sur- 
passed their sires? But I am not afraid. No 
one will deem it arrogance in me to say, of 
all this goodly group in the itinerant ranks, I 
am the first ; that is to say, I am one of those 
who went before to smooth the rugged way 
for those who came to rear the tender plant, 
whose seed had been deposited by their fore- 
runners, and to reap the field made ready to 
their hands. 

When the conference closed its session, 
I said to myself, This has been to me the most 
interesting General Conference I have attend- 
ed, except the first. I could not help being 
gratified that the ratio of delegates had not 
been reduced, for I did not doubt but that the 
coming together of such a body of ministers, 
of the M. E. Church, in Philadelphia, would 
be for the glory of God. They were men, 
and, of course, not without defects ; but such 
a body of men, so talented and so richly im- 
bued with missionary zeal, have, in my esti- 
mation, seldom been together. 

Our number, it is true, was rather large 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 259 

for the despatch of business. All was not 
done that I wished, but I have lived to believe 
it were better to do too little than too much. 
Our sky was generally clear. True, some 
clouds did arise, and slight electric shocks 
were felt, causing some painful solicitude, 
which soon subsided — for our excellent presi- 
dents, who lived in the entire confidence and 
esteem of their brethren, to whom they were 
personally known, could easily allay the 
rising storm. The men over whom they pre- 
sided well understood the nature, the necessi- 
ty, and the desirableness of Christian amity. 
They had been in the habit of telling their 
auditors that unity among brethren was more 
beautiful than the morning, sweeter than the 
breath of spring, and richer than the Peruvian 
mines ; and when admonished, you are now, 
brethren, beginning to feel and act unworthy 
of yourselves, they stood reproved, and the 
gust of feeling, which, had it been indulged, 
would have distorted the face, racked the 
breast, and alarmed the spectators, soon died 
away, and there was a great calm : " Blessed 
are the peace-makers, for they shall be called 
the children of God." Several things conspired 
to render this meeting agreeable to me. My 
health was better than it had been for years, 
insomuch that I felt no distressing lassitude, 



260 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



though generally at my post in the con- 
ference, in committee, and at preaching. I 
heard with pleasure many whose voices I 
shall never hear again in time, and said, in my 
heart, "The best of all is, God is with us." 

I have often heard it said, Past time seems 
short, just like a well-told tale, or like a dream 
when one awakes. Not so to me. To me 
past time seems long, and so I sometimes 
think it must, in fact, appear to others. Many 
of my brethren seemed pleased to see among 
them one who had a voice in the organization 
of the Church in 1784, not without some 
surprise that I should have breasted the 
storms of life for so long a time, and was still 
able to take a seat among them. Did not 
past time to these, at least, seem long? 

I was gratified, not flattered, I think, to 
find my few sketches of our early history had 
given pleasure to many. After I became an 
itinerant, had I carefully attended to the rules 
of a preacher in our excellent form of Disci- 
pline, " Be diligent ; never be unemployed ; 
never while away time ; neither spend any 
more time at any place than is strictly neces- 
sary." Had I done this, there would have 
been no want of knowledge in my ministerial 
career. The harmony of the past and pre- 
sent had never been lost, and, instead of a 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 261 

sketch, I might have given at least a complete 
portraiture of Methodism up to the present 
day. Moreover, such is our predilection for 
the past, as to render precious every fragment 
that portrays some characteristic feature, espe- 
cially of the venerable dead whom we have 
known and loved ; nor of these alone, but of 
all who have deserved well of their fellow- 
men. Let those who read, and especially my 
young itinerant brethren, understand and act 
accordingly. Much may be gained by think- 
ing with the pen, but let them not be content 
with a general knowledge of the language in 
which they think, but study its minutise before 
the frost of age forbids a genial growth. 

The General Conference manifested an 
undeviating attachment to the plan of general 
superintendency, and were, I think, happy in 
the choice they made of two additional su- 
perintendents. It is now ended, and my 
brethren have gone to the four quarters of our 
widely extended work, and my love, my 
prayers, and my ardent wishes have gone 
with them. God is love, and as he is, so are 
we in this world. He, it is true, is an unbe- 
ginning, never ceasing, and a for ever over- 
flowing ocean ; in this respect, we are not 
like him ; but if there is a drop of this bound- 
less ocean in our hearts, it flows out in a 



262 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 



thousand channels, pursuing its object over 
lands and floods, without the least diminution 
of the original drop. Some variation in minor 
thiugs we have known, but love has predomi- 
nated, has so softened and mixed the shades 
that, when we parted, as when we met, all 
was peace and good will. To God be all the 
glory. Such were my reflections at the con- 
clusion of the General Conference in 1832. 

I am now approaching toward the close of 
my earthly pilgrimage; and I may presume 
to say, that there are few of my fellow- Chris- 
tians who are more deeply affected with the 
signs of the times than I am. The zeal mani- 
fested for the promulgation of the gospel 
throughout the world, and the enterprises set 
on foot for the promotion of experimental 
godliness, I firmly believed more than half a 
century ago would characterize this age, 
though I might not live to see it. Before I 
knew the Methodists, I had heard that they 
claimed to be raised up of God to spread 
scriptural holiness through the land ; and this 
claim had been denounced as monstrous arro- 
gance. But the first time I attended their 
preaching, and listened with interest to it, the 
effect it produced upon my mind and that 
of others, satisfied me that God was with 
them, and would render them instrumental 



MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 263 



in stirring up such a spirit as we witness at 
this day. 

In this my expectations have been realiz- 
ed. It has pleased God to permit me to live 
to see it, and to mark its progress, which 
affords me more satisfaction in my decline 
of life, than all the wealth or honours of the 
w T orld could do. Methodism has been from 
the beginning a peculiarly missionary system. 
The operations of the day I regard as only 
an extension of this system, varied and 
modified to meet the openings of Providence 
for the universal spread of the gospel 
throughout the world. May God hasten the 
day w r hen the earth shall be filled with the 
knowledge of his glory, as the waters cover 
the sea. 

For many years that are past, I have sighed 
and said, " I alone am left of all my father's 
house." A short time since, I made a visit to 
the place where I was born. I found one 
only of my early companious, and he was 
trembling on his staff. At first he did not 
know me, though we were particular friends. 
And where are those who, in 1783, filled the 
itinerant ranks ? Are any of them left ? 
Not one. All of them were in their graves, 
or in the shade, before I retired. Yet a little 
while and I shall go the way of all flesh. 



264 MEMOIR OF REV. THOMAS WARE. 

And what, the reader may inquire, is my 
hope for the future ? 

For this life I have little to excite my hope. 
I cannot expect to be released from putting 
my feeble powers in requisition to supply my 
daily wants. I do hope, however, to be sus- 
tained, let the remnant of life's current flow 
as it may. But of future bliss in heaven, I 
have a strong and well-grounded expectation. 
Whatever claims I may suppose myself to 
have upon the justice of my fellow-men, for 
whose salvation I have ardently laboured, I 
have none on God, except through him "who 
was made sin for us, that we might be 
made the righteousness of God in him." 
Through his merits and mercies, I have a 
well-grounded hope of a glorious immortality 
beyond this vale of tears. 



THE END. 



H 151 82 ^< 



